Down goes the ball as Sam Young dunks for Sydney against Melbourne. Photo: Getty Images
American president Theodore Roosevelt famously had a ''speak softly and carry a big stick'' approach to foreign policy.
Former NBA forward turned Sydney Kings import Sam Young embodied those words on Sunday as he led his side to a 67-63 victory over the Melbourne Tigers.
When Australian Olympian Mark Worthington, playing with the Tigers, knocked Young to the ground in the third quarter, the American had some Roosevelt-inspired words for his aggressor.
Man of action: Sydney Kings import Sam Young slam dunks over Mark Worthington of the Melbourne Tigers on Sunday. Photo: Getty Images
''I told him if he wants to play that way I can do it, too,'' Young said in quiet tones after the game. ''If you want to play a finesse game, I can go there but if you want to play it rough, if you want to go there, tough guy, then I can go there, too.''
Young scored a game-high 27 points including five crucial points in the final 90 seconds capped off by a twisting post move that gave the visitors a match-winning four-point lead with 26 seconds left.
Tigers guard Chris Goulding (20 points on 8-25 shooting from the floor) had three chances to match Young's baskets in the final minutes but missed all of them.
The win gives the Kings breathing room in third place and, more importantly, gives them the season series over the Tigers, meaning they hold the tie-breaker should both teams have equal records at the end of the season.
A.J. Ogilvy (10 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks) was also excellent for the Kings in front of a sell-out crowd of 3500.
The Tigers trailed by as much as 19 points after a poor start and, adding to their problems, the home side struggled to find scoring outside of Goulding and centre Scott Morrison (20 points) who scored 40 of their team's 63 points.
Tigers coach Chris Anstey was dejected after the game and said his players had to start better.
''It was not dissimilar to the last few weeks, which is disappointing,'' Anstey said.
''We started the game poorly and we couldn't afford to. We had a private chat post-game, not so much about basketball - something has got to change.''
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