Xavier Cooks insists he’s not carrying the NBL’s first-placed Sydney Kings regardless of the group’s patchy kind with out him in current weeks.
MVP candidate Cooks made his return from an ankle harm towards the Cairns Taipans on Monday however when he fouled out within the closing 4 minutes, the Kings surrendered an eight-point result in path for the primary time since early within the second half. They misplaced in time beyond regulation.
In the sport earlier than that, the Kings defeated the last-placed Illawarra Hawks on the buzzer whereas Cooks nursed his ankle.
Sydney held on to beat the New Zealand Breakers after dropping Cooks at halftime within the hit-out prior, discovering themselves outscored 31-17 in a tense closing quarter.
But Cooks put the Kings’ hiccups all the way down to a scarcity of familiarity with new mixtures moderately than over-reliance on their marquee man.
“We have such a talented roster, such a deep roster, and we know how to play. We’ve just got to figure it out,” he advised AAP.
“The boys have been used to playing with me and I guess I get involved in a lot of action, so when I wasn’t out there, they’re waiting for that next person to do it.
“But it is only one unhealthy recreation and one unhealthy stretch, we’re not studying into it previous that.”
Coach Chase Buford put Cooks on a minutes restriction against Cairns but the 27-year-old said that was down to foul trouble rather than fears his ankle may not be up to the task of managing a full workload.
He expects to play around 30 minutes in Sunday’s game with the Adelaide 36ers, who defeated the Kings with a three-point shooting masterclass in the sides’ last meeting.
Since then, the Sixers have released sharpshooting import Craig Randall II following rumours of chemistry issues between the American and the rest of the team.
“They’ve been travelling quite a bit higher ever since that occurred,” Cooks mentioned.
“It’s simply Franks (import Robert Franks) from the three-point line now, so we’ll play the remainder of them straight up.
“They’re a hot team right now and we’re taking them very seriously.”
