How the NZ Breakers rebounded from the season from hell and found their hoops groove. MARC HINTON reports
If last season was a form of prolonged torture for the New Zealand Breakers fulfilling their obligations in the Australian National Basketball League in the midst of a pandemic, this 2022-23 campaign is a comparative expression of joy, freedom and relief as shackles have been removed and fortunes reversed.
In 2021-22 the league’s lone Kiwi club spent the entire season trudging from pillar to post in Australia, living out of suitcases, stuck in hotel rooms with walls “closing in”, playing “home” games behind closed doors in Tasmania, dodging lockdowns, outbreaks and an overwhelming feeling
of despair. It was little wonder the Breakers went 5-23, finished dead-ass last and trudged back to New Zealand in need of, not just a decent holiday, but a dose of counselling.
That was then. And this is now. The ‘22-23 season rolled around with the virus having subsided enough for a “normal” campaign to play out. For the first time in over two years, the Breakers were able to prepare in their own facility, sleep in their own beds and play a full slate of home games in front of their own fans, friends and families. It has been comparative basketball bliss.
And the results have flipped. After losing their opener at Melbourne United in overtime, they won six of their next seven. There was a home defeat to the Sydney Kings in early November, then five straight victories as they hit the halfway mark at a league-best 11-3. A pre-Christmas funk hit when they lost back to back at Spark against old rivals the Wildcats and the Kings (again), but they remained well placed for a playoff push.
Of course it has not all magically transformed, like someone sprinkled fairy dust on the four-time champions from across the ditch.
There was a change at the top, with Dan Shamir departing as head coach and chief assistant, Mody Maor brought in to take charge. Talk about your revelations. The driven Israeli has had the vision, foresight and smarts to assemble a roster that has been up to the task of reviving this once-proud North Shore-based club.
Maor talked about coming to a realisation they needed to go back to their roots and rediscover their “Kiwi” identity. They had to embrace the toughness, grittiness, and doggedness of the championship era when men like Mika Vukona, Paul Henare, CJ Bruton and Kirk Penney laid the foundation for special things.
Key men were retained (Tom Abercrombie, Rob Loe, Will McDowell-White), others recruited (Izayah Le’afa, Tom Vodanovich, Cam Gliddon and Dan Fotu), three quality imports were signed (Barry Brown Jr, Dererk Pardon and Jarrell Brantly), a Next Star added (French teen Rayan Rupert), and away they went.
The Breakers have been the league’s best defensive side, playing with a purpose and poise on that side of the ball to lock down teams on a regular basis. After they rolled past the Brisbane Bullets with ease at Spark Arena, stand-in visiting coach Sam McKinnon called them the “championship favourites”.
After losing that opener in Melbourne, they rattled off six consecutive road victories. They were a less stellar 5-3 at home after dropping the early-December one to Perth. But it’s still been impressive. They have been playing hard, together, and with increasing offensive authority.
“This is a young group and a new group,” says Maor, “If we want to achieve good things, if we want to maximise our potential, then there are challenges in losing, which will 100% come, and there are challenges in winning. We need to make sure as a group we understand what we want to achieve, that we’re not there yet, and that we need to keep getting better. We need to find the motivation from within. It’s not a chip on our shoulders because people don’t think we’re good. It’s give me another inch better every day, basketball wise, mentality wise, etc. We are a united group working towards a goal.”
Maor knows that work remains in progress. There are still defensive lapses, offensive dry spells, mental letdowns. There are still growing pains. They’re still figuring things out. But, at 13-9 in late January after three straight defeats, they’ve put themselves right at the forefront of the post-season picture that will kick in mid-February.
And from where they were last season, that is already a heck of an accomplishment.
Marc Hinton
Sports Writer