{"id":467986,"date":"2026-02-09T06:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T06:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467986\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T06:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T06:36:09","slug":"nbl-legend-and-sydney-kings-coach-brian-goorjian-faces-possible-sanction-over-fiery-exchange-with-south-east-melbourne-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467986\/","title":{"rendered":"NBL legend and Sydney Kings coach Brian Goorjian faces possible sanction over fiery exchange with South East Melbourne Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf they want to give me a technical (foul), they can give me a technical. He tells me what he said, I\u2019m coming right back at him. I didn\u2019t think there was a place for that. I wasn\u2019t talking to the referee. He didn\u2019t do anything when he went at me, and I don\u2019t just go at a player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went there, and he said something and I went back at him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis later thanked Goorjian for supporting him on court.<\/p>\n

The heated game is also likely to lead the NBL to investigate reports of a confrontation between Phoenix coach Josh King and Davis, which allegedly took place after the game in the tunnel that leads to the locker rooms.<\/p>\n

Phoenix owner Romie Chaudhari has twice taken to social media to address the fiery contest, lashing Goorjian and addressing the tunnel clash.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome folks are saying our coach confronted KD in the tunnel, couldn\u2019t be further from the truth, it was the other way around,\u201d Chaudhari posted on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cA broadcaster left mid-press conference to go snitch to KD, which then incited that whole \u2018confrontation\u2019 in the tunnel, a confrontation initiated by KD.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s see how this is addressed in the aftermath. Unfortunately, there is a \u2018good \u2018ol boys club\u2019 mentality that is ever prevalent, so I won\u2019t hold my breath.\u201d<\/p>\n

King, speaking before the alleged tunnel incident, said Goorjian\u2019s behaviour was \u201ccompletely uncalled for\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really surprising, a guy that\u2019s done everything he\u2019s done in his career to think it\u2019s OK to tell an opposing player \u2018F you\u2019 three times,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n

\"Goorjian<\/p>\n

Goorjian getting emotional court-side.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s very disappointing and it\u2019s not right. Hey, it is what it is. Maybe he thinks that\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just know that I\u2019ve never seen that before, and I\u2019ve coached around the world too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s result lifted Sydney (21-9) above the Phoenix (21-10) into second spot on the ladder, with just two rounds left in the regular season.<\/p>\n

with AAP<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIf they want to give me a technical (foul), they can give me a technical. He tells me…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-467986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}