Kings by 5

No injuries I'm aware of for Sydney. Looking forward to being at our first home game of the season, but should be a tough game. Wortho always seems to do well against us.

Wortho was great the other night. Wonder if he'll spend much time on Childress, or if Cairns will spend a lot of time in their various forms of zones. Would love to see that pair going at it a bit.

Kings by 7

I'm tipping the Kings in this one.

They'll be fresh. Cairns has just played, and then flown a few hours to get there. When you're talking about guys who are well into their 30's (Wortho, Burston, Loughton) I think that is worth considering as a factor.

Question mark on the Kings is just the usual question mark for this time of year- Chemistry. But it's a bigger question mark for them than most at this point since 1. They've overhauled their roster more than pretty much anyone else and 2. They were bad at The Blitz (admittedly without Childress).

And, of course, exactly how good is Marcus Thornton?

I think the Kings get this one. Cairns will be tired from Thursday I think as close game and didn't play the bench as much as Adelaide did. Will be close I think. Feel that Cairns are equipped to mark Chill with Wortho and Craig but Starks needs to step up after Thursday.

‏@Hoops_Heaven · 1 minute ago
Sydney Kings import Josh Childress will sit out tonight's game against the Cairns Taipans due to a suspected strain in his foot #HardBall

Kings were 9-9 with Childress last season and 0-10 without him.

And, of course, exactly how good is Marcus Thornton?

Anon 627 makes a strong point. Taipans by 15.

No Childress equates to a easy win for Cairns.

Khazzouh, Garlepp, Brandt, Hill, Thornton, Markovic, Carter and Cadee. The Kings shouldn't be as reliant on Childress this year, but I agree Cairns should start favourites.

Disagree anon, if you were a runner and you wanted to get your best time, you'd taper your training off in the week leading up to the event. Having played a game at 100% intensity less than 48 hours ago is certainly not ideal from the perspective of trying to get maximum out of their bodies today.

Having a match, getting home from the stadium and to sleep probably after midnight Thursday night, putting those long legs on an economy (I assume) flight for several hours and backing up for another game this afternoon. You're kidding if you don't think that'd have some impact on these guys- especially the older ones. I'm not arguing that it's a *huge* factor, but it is a factor.

Agree LV,about the travel. Its always a factor. Childress out is the biggest factor of them all now though. Where is the Kings points going to come from today. And Cairns now have the bonus of having 40minutes of game time under their belt to eradicate glitches which were definitely there against the Hawks.

I like the look of the Kings culture this year. Good buy in and togetherness.

How free flowing is this game! Its fantastic.

Cadee could have a breakout year this year.

Kings lineup is very balanced. Good strength at every position and good in just about all facets of the game.

What is happening. Incredible by the Kings, can't miss.

Hurt his foot this morning apparently.

I don't recognise this Kings team. Confused.

Where did this come from?

This year will be a nightmare to tip.

Kings off to a flyer, but what are they wearing, seriously they look like they have borrowed their girl friend's pajamas...

Is it just me or does Damian Cotter look extremely different?

Agree MACDUB, has he had Lasik?

Question: How home the Sydney v Cairns game isn't live on Fox Sports News???

My fox only started the 3rd quarter, yet live, it's into the 4th quarter!!

Question: How home the Sydney v Cairns game isn't live on Fox Sports News???

My fox only started the 3rd quarter, yet live, it's into the 4th quarter!!

I worked it out. Thanks guys. Seems the stream goes into delay until you press the Play button n it zooms straight to the live version.

Cairns is very disappointed, and seems uncordinated in offence. They sure miss certain players from last year.

Sydney looks good tonight. Great flow in offence and good hussle on defence.

Obviously the Kings started hot, while Cairns were I think 1/17 from 3pt land at one stage on mostly decent looks, but I thought the Kings D was pretty outstanding tonight for the most part. Khazzouh was a great player last time he was in Sydney, but he's like 2x that player now. Took it away from Starks a few times, challenged or blocked everything around the basket.

As for Cotter, my wife commented on the same thing... 'who is that guy coaching the Kings, is Cotter unavailable tonight?'.

I guess the suit, but maybe slimmed down?

I think maybe also a haircut with Cotter... there's definitely something different...

agree re Cotter i thought kings had a new coach