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Before a single game had been played in the NBL season, South Dragons coach Brian Goorjian made some peculiar remarks on the prospects of the cross-town rival Melbourne Tigers.
Speaking in reaction to the hype surrounding the club’s “stacked” roster, Goorjian said: “I don’t see any one in the league near that and I think they are going to have to fall on their own sword or stumble somewhere along the line (not to win it this season).”
“Just talent-wise, in my time in the league, I haven’t seen separation from one team to the rest of the competition like that.”
The irony here?
Now, six months after Goorjian said that the Tigers would have to “fall on their own sword,” his Dragons face the task of beating them in a best-of-five grand final series.
And if the Dragons are to win this series, it won’t be due to a mere Tigers “stumble”.
On Friday night, the series was levelled to one game apiece. Throughout game two, save for a brief lapse in concentration deep in the fourth quarter, the Tigers were looking as dangerous as they have all season.
Even then, they did it with American import Ebi Ere looking unusually-tame.
This came on the back of the team’s barnstorming form since recruiting Luke Kendall and Dave Thomas early in the New Year. Going into the grand final, they had won 12 games from their last 14.
It took some time, but they’re finally living up to some of that pre-season hype, when it was said nobody could defeat them in a five-game series.
But if anyone can put up a challenge, it’s Goorjian and his Dragons. They’re one of the few sides to have the Tigers’ number this year.
In the regular season, the Dragons claimed three Melbourne derbies and lost only one. They also finished atop the NBL ladder in a season it was considered fait accompli that the Tigers would.
Crucially, the men in black also hold home court advantage in games three and five. Although it may not seem like much in a local derby, the two games so far have seen boisterous one-sided support given to the home side.
Speaking of the advantage, Goorjian said: “We’ve worked all year for it and we want to maintain it and if we maintain it through the series we win the championship.”
Which is a lot more convincing than the “if the Tigers screw up, we win the championship” line, hey?
The reality is, in spite of talk about stacked rosters and unbeatable teams, this series could fall either way.
Each side goes into the final two or three games of the series – quite likely the final two or three games of the NBL entirely – with their destiny in their own hands.
Tiger fans know that so far in this series, we’re yet to see the best of Ebi Ere. Dragon fans would tell you to expect more out of young sensation Joe Ingles, who was benched at a crucial stage late in game two.
We will find out who can lift their game tonight, when the series resumes for game three at Hisense Arena.
For the loser, it will take two consecutive wins to claim the championship.
For the winner, they will be just one step away from lifting the trophy.
