BRIAN Goorjian is a champion again after his missed chance in the PBA.
The former Bay Area Dragons coach led the Sydney Kings to the championship of NBL Australia following a nail-biting 113-101 overtime win over the Adelaide 36ers in the deciding Game 5 on Sunday.
That gave the 72-year-old former Australia national coach his seventh NBL crown but his first since 2009 when he last brought the South Dragons to the crown. He also previously won with the Sydney Kings from 2003 to 2005.
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Filipino basketball fans remember Goorjian as the coach who led the Bay Area Dragons' memorable campaign in the PBA as an international guest team during the 2022-23 Commissioner's Cup.
Under Goorjian's mentorship, the Dragons topped the elimination round and were the No. 1 seed in the playoffs where they defeated Rain or Shine and San Miguel.
Goorjian's squad pushed Barangay Ginebra to the limit in the finals, only to lose to the Gin Kings in Game 7, 114-99, on January 15, 2023 before a record crowd at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.
It turned out to be Goorjian’s last PBA game as Bay Area later disbanded, and the American-Australian coach returned to his roots with the Sydney Kings.
The PBA has since brought in two more guest teams including the Macau Black Knights in the ongoing Commissioner's Cup, but they will be hardpressed to even duplicate what the Dragons have done three years ago.
The Kings had a stacked roster that included former NBA players Matthew Dellavedova and Torrey Craig, FIBA Asia Cup MVP Jaylin Galloway, and fellow Australia national team mainstay Xavier Cooks.
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