Goorjian: '36ers as good as anyone'

Goorjian: '36ers as good as anyone'

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

"We can't afford to have breakdowns in our play like that during these two games this weekend."

With an incredible depth of talent and one of the all-time great coaches at the helm, the Sydney Kings are understandably championship favourites. But Brian Goorjian says his team still needs to fix its "Achilles heel".

"That consistency… we're working hard on it - it seems like in most games we have blocks on really strong play, followed by blocks where we let ourselves down,” Goorjian said following Thursday’s practice.

"I thought we played good defence for the most part on Saturday, which led to plenty of transition baskets, but the big picture moving forward is our consistency across the four quarter, as I didn't like the way we finished the game."

Against Brisbane, the Kings were -11 in the final quarter, conceding 27 points, after giving up 28 in the third term.

On Friday night, a star-studded Adelaide lineup awaits, and anything short of its best simply won't cut it for Sydney.

"We know it's early in the season and we're improving in that facet of our game, but we can't afford to have breakdowns in our play like that during these two games this weekend," Goorjian said.

"They (the 36ers) now have as good of an eight-person lineup as anyone in the competition, testing you multiple ways.

"They have one of the best guards (Kendric Davis), two elite bigs that can hurt you inside with Montrezl (Harrell) and Isaac (Humphries) and an amazing home fan base, so we know it's going to be a challenge on Friday in all areas."

The Kings and 36ers face off at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Friday night, with tip-off from 7.30pm AEDT on ESPN via Kayo.

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