Goorjian holds firm as Wells says MVP getting ‘beat up’

Sunday’s Game 3 of the Hungry Jack’s Championship Series was another thriller between Sydney and Adelaide, which the Kings winning by 13 points.

While both teams had their chances to move up 2-1 in the Series, 36ers coach Mike Wells disagreed.

In his post-game press conference, Wells was quick to highlight the lopsided 24-11 foul count, which was exactly the same in Game 1 at the same venue, Qudos Bank Arena.

“We were in this game to win this game, but we didn’t have a chance to do that,” Wells said.

“They [the Kings] only had four fouls the entire second half … let that sink in now.”

But Kings’ counterpart Brian Goorjian rebutted Wells’ claims and backed his side’s League-best defence, spearheaded by Matthew Dellavedova, Makuach Maluach, Jaylin Galloway and Torrey Craig.

“A big focus for us is Bryce, keeping our hands off him and defending him without fouling,” Goorjian said.

“I have history with guarding players like this, as we had to do similar with Andrew Gaze.

“Obviously, there are some penalties [you live with defending him this way], but fouling him on top of that would be a travesty for us.

“We’re constantly talking about it [containing Cotton] and moving bodies.

“I know I’m the opposition coach, but I think we’ve done a good job in all three games in what we’re trying to do there [defend Cotton].

“We’re trying to make it as hard as we can without making it dirty and controlling what we can control.

“It [limiting Cotton’s impact] is a focus point for us, and we have the personnel on the roster to do the best job possible there.

“He's a tremendous player. You're not going to stop him all the time, but we're not talking one game now, we're talking the seven times we've played them [this season].

“There are no secrets in what we're doing, and I think, like them with us, when you're in a series, you get better at it, and we're better at it Game 3 than we were Game 1.”

>> Championship Series schedule, tickets & how to watch

Game 4 of the Championship Series tips off at 7.30pm AEDT on Wednesday at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, live on ESPN and 10 Drama in Sydney and Adelaide.