THIS is what they came here for.
International coach Brian Goorjian made no mincemeat about Bay Area Dragons’ bid to go home with the PBA Commissioner’s Cup championship especially now the powerhouse guest team is just a step away from gatecrashing the finals.
Goorjian, 69, was polite enough to say he’s not pondering a sweep of embattled defending champion San Miguel, but said the Dragons will definitely go for the win when the opportunity presents itself.
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“We want to do anything we can do, everything we can do to win when we can, play one game at a time,” said Goorjian, whose team jumped to a commanding 2-0 lead in the short best-of-five semis following an emphatic 114-95 win two days ago.
“I’m not thinking sweep. I’m just thinking the next game and try to win that, and keep this momentum going.”
But the most successful coach in NBL Australia history did mention it would be truly something special for the Dragons to make the finals and contend for the title.
It’s not every day a player or a team is given such an opportunity to play for a championship, according to Goorjian, whose father Ed just died last week in Los Angeles.
“It’s a one opportunity, and young guys sometimes don’t realize that you can play your whole career and not win a championship,” he said. “We got an opportunity to do something very special, and we just want to make sure we leave no rock unturned right now.”
Game Three is set Sunday at the Philsports Arena, with the Dragons looking every bit of a team on a mission.
“It would be a real honor to get to that grand finals. And we’re close,” said Goorjian.
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