Saturday, 20 January 2018: The pressure came off bottom side Sydney Kings when they beat leaders Perth on Friday. They have a return bout on Sunday and say they must be better.

Andrew Gaze says his side will need to be even better on Sunday if they want to beat the Perth Wildcats, despite the Sydney Kings upsetting the reigning champions on Friday night.

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The bottom-of-the-table Kings led from start to finish to beat Wildcats 84-77 at the Perth Arena, their first win in the West in a decade.

But Gaze admits he was concerned by his side's defence in the second half when the Cats piled on 50 points.

"We have to do better than what we did in the second half," he said.

"But if we hold any team in the league to 27 points in a half, we win every single game."

The Kings will welcome back Brad Newley on Sunday, who missed Friday's game to be with his wife Brigid for the birth of his second child, a boy.

However, star guard Jerome Randle will have to be monitored. He carried an adductor injury in to Friday night's game and although he top-scored for the Kings with 19 points, he was clearly hampered.

Gaze was beaming from ear-to-ear on Friday night after his side knocked the Cats off the top of the NBL ladder. It was Sydney's first win at the Perth Arena.

And while pressure appeared to be mounting on Gaze to keep his job, the Australian basketball icon said he didn't feel it.

He said that any sleep he lost was due only to him thinking about how he could get wins for his team, not whether he was going to keep his job.

"I am really happy for the players," Gaze said after the win.

"My conscious is clear I have done my absolute best. I understand I have made some mistakes. My disappointment is more for the players.

"It's not appropriate to trot out all of the explanations and all of the behind-the-scene things that go on because it doesn't mean anything; it's always labelled an excuse.

"We offer no excuses. Our talent is good enough, we have some adversity, we haven't done well enough with it. Others will make judgements and I try not get the pressure get to me.

"I don't lose sleep over what someone says. I have to live another 30 lifetimes over to square the ledger on all the great things that have been said about me as opposed to the shitty things that have been said about me.

"It hurts, but I look at the big picture and say I am the luckiest guy in the world."