Defence by design: Goorjian’s vision taking hold

The Sydney Kings are arguably the hottest team in the NBL right now, having won six straight games.

The most recent of those came on Tuesday night over the Bullets, whose coach Darryl McDonald labelled Sydney as the best team in the league right now.

The stats back this up too, with the Harbour City side holding the best offensive (125.6) and defensive (99.2) ratings since Round 12.

While the offensive part of that is continuing to improve, the hallmark of the Kings' 13-7 record is the league best defence all season.

Through the opening 14 rounds of the Hungry Jack's NBL26 season, the Kings are holding opponents to a league best 1.06 points per possession, while restricting teams to just 43.4 per cent from the field (second only to Perth's 43.2).

In Tuesday's post-game press conference, Kings coach Brian Goorjian said he believes his team is "only scratching the surface" of how dangerous they can be on the defensive end of the floor.

"It's a mindset that we started when I came to the Kings this time and began putting some pieces together," Goorjian said in the post-game press conference at Qudos Bank Arena.

“It was built around that [defensive] concept, and this year we’ve gradually added to it and built on it.

“It’s taken a while [to get going], but the guys are starting to see the success of it with how they’re playing.

"While I introduced this [defensive strategy], I'm not driving it anymore, with all the players communicating and holding each other accountable.

“The pressure [and intent] they’re playing with is [contagious], and they’re feeding off one another.

“[The exciting part] is I think we’re only scratching the surface of how good we can be on that end. There’s more to come.”

Kings big man Tim Soares, who has been a critical piece to the team’s impressive defence because of his ability to protect the rim, explained how embracing their "mentality" has flipped their season, which once saw Sydney at 3-5.

“We were treading water instead of really diving in [earlier in the season], because when our mentality is being the aggressor [on defence], it completely changes the game,” Soares said.

“Obviously, we're not going to win every single game, but if we want to have a chance at this, we need to play at this kind of level. We're starting to understand that now.

“It starts at practice, and he [Brian Goorjian] has done a great job of making sure that we're at a high level, which then translates to the game where we’re bringing that same intensity.”

Sydney will now head to Adelaide on Friday for a blockbuster clash with the 36ers, tipping off at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.