Ninnis expects 'fired up' and 'desperate' Kings

Scott Ninnis is preparing for a ‘fired up’ Sydney Kings in Thursday night’s blockbuster at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

The Kings have lost four of their past five matches, including the past two on their home court, and Ninnis believes Sydney will be desperate against the 36ers.

“They will come in fired up and desperate, you have to do that when you come off a couple of losses, like we have done ourselves,” Ninnis told media on Wednesday.

“We are expecting a battle, there is no doubt about that.

“Sydney is riddled with talent, but they have been struggling a little bit, like most of the clubs in this competition have been.

“It’s another good challenge for us in front of another sellout crowd no doubt, so we look forward to it.”

Ninnis said his side will be looking to build on their performance against Melbourne United and expects star guard DJ Vasiljevic to be primed to face his former team.

“He will be pumped up to play against them no doubt,” Ninnis said.

“But this is about us, DJ will come out and play well, I’m really confident about that, but it’s not one player against another team.

“I like to think the confidence we take out of that game (United win), we can’t take a backward step now, we got to come out with that sort of energy and that sort of mindset, regardless of who we are playing.”

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Limiting the impact Sydney import point guard and NBL22 MVP Jaylen Adams has on the outcome is at the top of the agenda for Ninnis.

“He is a super talent and we have seen that up front, we will run different bodies at him,” Ninnis said.

“One of our strengths is we have good defenders in our backcourt, you look at guys like Sunday Dech, you look at Mitch McCarron, you look at Trey Kell. I thought Nick Marshall chased Chris Goulding around well last week as well.

“A guy like that you don’t completely stop, you just got to make it as tough for him as possible.”

Adelaide will battle Sydney Kings on Thursday night from 7pm, catch the game live and exclusive to ESPN via Kayo Sports.