On the Eve of Game 1

The two best teams of NBL 25/26, the Sydney Kings and the Adelaide 36ers, go head-to-head in game one at Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday night in the best of five series. It’s shaping up to be an enthralling series between two fierce rivals. Both have extremely talented players, and plenty has been said about their road to the finals.

 

History now shows how the Kings overcame a poor 3-5 start to the year to finish regular season champions. The Kings are now on an incredible 13 game winning streak. And then there’s the two big superstars in the Kings’ Kendric Davis and the 36ers Bryce Cotton. It was Cotton who finished the season with the coveted MVP award over Davis, a man who came to Sydney looking for a new beginning after one season with the 36ers. Cotton, the mainstay of the Perth Wildcats for so many years, arrived at the 36ers in place of Davis and the fresh start there reinvigorated the three-time NBL champion.

 

Fortunately for the Kings, they have the greatest NBL coach of all time in Goorjian to call on, with his experience a major calming influence as the hype and tension build for game one. “Let it happen. Our focus now is on everything we can control,’’ Goorjian said. “We didn’t listen to the outside noise of I'm too old, the team's not good enough, bad selection and [look at] where we are now.

 

“We've grown through the disappointment by sticking together, and now, when you get into games like this, it comes in spades. I feel we are well prepared because we have been dealing with it since the first three weeks of the season."

“Talk's cheap, but all during that (tough] time, during all the interviews I did, I said the same thing, I really like this group. I think they're connected. I think they're special. I think we're going to work this out and be good.

 

“To get to the point that we got to is probably higher than expected, because of the hole that we got in and what we had to do to finish on top and have home court advantage.”

 

As for stopping Cotton, it’s not a new task for the Kings who made life uncomfortable for Adelaide’s main man in their four previous encounters. This time around, the Kings will be relying on the experience and knowledge of former NBA champion Matthew Dellavedova to stop Cotton.

 

“He (Cotton) is an incredible basketball player, and if you don't do something about that, you're not going to win the series,” Goorjian said. “Delly’s a definite factor. We've played them four times, and the last one, we didn’t have him or Bul Kuol as our primary guy.

 

“Delly's been incredible, and all that's been talked about prior to how we've moved forward. “You look at the last series, and you look at a guy like [Kristian] Doolittle, who is 6'8", 240, and he was our answer. “He did a phenomenal job in Game 2 and was instrumental in that, so having him with you as far as executing your game plan offensively and defensively is huge, and he'll be a key part of it.”