The cream eventually rose to top in the opening round of the NBL playoffs with Sydney and Perth disposing of pesky Melbourne and Adelaide outfits.

But the man whose grin will be as wide as any will be Townsville coach Ian Stacker after the Crocodiles advanced to the semi-finals as the lucky losers.

However he has the sobering reminder that his team will have the Kings heading north for game one on Thursday in their best-of-three semi-final clash.

Stacker will have to quickly refocus his troops to meet the best team in the NBL this season after the Crocs' 16-match winning streak was snapped in a 2-0 series loss to Wollongong.

Crocs general manager Barry Gibson admitted the north Queensland outfit had been sweating on the Perth result which allowed the Crocs to progress.

"Obviously that is the advantage of finishing in the top three," he said.

"We were going to have to beat Sydney and Perth to win the championship and that hasn't changed."

Gibson hoped the Crocs could take advantage of all the expectation being loaded upon the Kings who are in the semi-finals for only the third time in the franchise's underachieving history.

"I think it will be role reversals because we lost to Wollongong in Wollongong and were on the back foot from the beginning and we will try to do the same to Sydney by taking game one at home," he said.

"The media are all over them while we have nothing to lose."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP