Legendary coach Brian Goorjian has six NBL championships to his name, including a three-peat with the Sydney Kings from 2003-2005.<\/p>\n
While the most recent of those came with the South Dragons, the first two came during his first NBL coaching gig with the South East Melbourne Magic.<\/p>\n
Now, as the seven-time Coach of the Year enters yet another Finals campaign, he sees similarities between his current Kings side and the Magic of the early 1990s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of similarities [between the Kings and Magic],\u201d Goorjian said at Tuesday\u2019s Finals Launch.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe [the Magic] went through a merger and put together a team that, as soon as it was assembled, you knew you had an opportunity for a championship.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Although] we didn’t start that way [this season], but I feel that way now [about Sydney].<\/p>\n
\u201cYou go into this, and you go, the team’s playing well, we’ve got the right group.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn’t happen often, and this year, it feels that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Further to that, Goorjian believes his regular season champions are confident in their own skin and have what it takes to add a seventh title to his collection.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s not a blueprint for this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cListening to the players and knowing their mindset is really clear, and just continuing to move forward in what and who we are.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this time of year, whatever team it is, you should know what you need to do and what you need to be good at to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust focus on that and making sure everyone’s fresh, everyone’s at their healthiest, and everyone’s motivated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI reflect on the Boomers during COVID, and we talked a lot about whoever comes out of this situation and handles it the best has the best opportunity to meddle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a similar situation, handling this period of time and doing it right.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, there’s no blueprint, but feel like we’ll get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Kings will open their post-season campaign on Wednesday, March 11, with game one of the Playoffs Series at Qudos Bank Arena from 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.<\/p>\n
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