Goorjian: “They kicked our arse”

Brian Goorjian has taken responsibility for the Sydney Kings’ loss against the Adelaide 36ers, saying his team’s lack of competitiveness ultimately falls on him.

The Kings were left shellshocked early on, as an under-pressure Adelaide team burst out to a 22-point lead within the first nine minutes.

Jaylen Adams’ 41-point haul helped keep the margin at a respectable level, but outside of his performance, it was a night to forget.

Goorjian says the Kings were always on the back foot.

“Tonight’s real simple ... I knew watching the game they (the 36ers) played the night before and what took place, that they would have had soul-searching meetings and heart-to-hearts, and come into this game how you do if you’re a competitor and a baller,” he said.

“You’re going to come in and throw punches, because of everything that’s going and spinning around you.

“My job coming into this game was to make sure that my guys understood what was coming ... making sure that they were ready, and this is on me.”

Adelaide had been the topic of much discussion across the past two days, after comments from Isaac Humphries seemingly criticising Mike Wells’ coaching style, and Montrezl Harrell leaving the court while Jason Cadee was talking to the playing group following the loss to Perth.

According to Code Sports, the 36ers held a “crisis meeting” between players and coaching staff ahead of Monday night’s game, after a run of seven losses from the last eight games.

Goorjian says his team simply didn’t compete with a group that more was up for the fight.

“The offence, the schemes that we did defensively, there was no comparison from the time the ball went up as far as anything that involved competitive spirit,” he continued.

“They just kicked our arse ... that falls on me.

“I kept saying to the staff to ‘make sure that we’re ready to play’. I had an opportunity to do that and we didn’t get it done.

“It’s my job to put a team on the floor that’s going to compete.

“We let the crowd and the Kings fans down.”

Goorjian admitted it was Sydney’s most disappointing loss of the season.

“If you look at our whole record and I think we’re about the .500 record mark ... I don’t think we’ve taken a punch this whole season,” he added.

“Every loss has been in the last two minutes of the game. Tonight it was in the first quarter.”

It was also another tough night for Cam Oliver, who played just nine minutes, and went zero-of-four from the field.

The Kings are now at risk of losing touch with the top two, falling to an 11-9 record on the season and their second straight loss.

They’ll take on the Phoenix at home on Thursday night.