Australian NBL, round 4: New Zealand Breakers (3-1) v South East Melbourne Phoenix (1-3), Trusts Arena, Auckland, Thursday, 7.35pm.
Having established they’re a group with character, as well as no little skill, Mody Maor’s New Zealand Breakers will seek to demonstrate those qualities for a third NBL game in six days against the South East Melbourne Phoenix at Trusts Arena on Thursday night.
The Aussie league’s schedule-makers have been impossibly cruel to the Breakers over this early part of the season, handing a team that was nearly crushed by the toll of spending most of the previous two seasons on the road, you guessed it, a travel-heavy early part of the new campaign.
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That saw the Breakers face a tough road double at the Phoenix last Saturday, then at the Illawarra Hawks on Monday, before jetting back to Auckland for this Thursday night rematch against the Phoenix, which will be followed by a Sunday trip to the surging Cairns Taipans in North Queensland and then a visit to the title-contending Adelaide 36ers on Friday.
Frequent flyer miles are up at the 3-1 Breakers, but so too is confidence as they head into the Phoenix matchup with the second best record in the league, on a three-game win streak and playing the best defence in the entire league. And it’s not even close.
They are fresh off a pair of outstanding road victories over the Phoenix (85-77) and Hawks (88-62) that represents their best start to a season since 2017-18 when they won nine of the first 10, and were a beaten semifinalist.
They have been undermanned in doing so, too, with Tom Abercrombie still out recovering from eye surgery, star import backcourter Barry Brown Jr missing both games in Australia with hamstring tightness and long-range bomber Cam Gliddon the first through illness.
It has mattered not. The Breakers have dialled in on defence, keeping the Phoenix to a 36% shooting clip and Hawks to just 37, and produced the sort of balanced scoring that makes them a very difficult side indeed to scout. Maor had five players post double-figure points in Melbourne and six in Wollongong, as the “next-man-up” mentality was embraced superbly.
He will need more of the same, with just one practice day on Wednesday, before running out against a Phoenix side that will be much the better for their hitout against the Breakers that saw a trio of key men make their first appearances of the season.
In-form Breakers centre Rob Loe, who is averaging 12.3 points and 5.7 rebounds off the bench through the first four games, said the home factor will be significant as they look to continue this hot start to the season at their secondary Auckland venue.
“Home fans make a huge difference in the NBL because they provide the energy players need,” said the veteran big man. “We’ve got a pretty gruelling travel schedule and with back-to-back games, travel, you need all the energy you can get. Our fans provide that spark for us.
“It’s a really intimate venue compared to Spark, fans are right on top of the action. The 72-hour turnaround is something we do all the time, but this week is slightly different with three games, and the travel. This is when we need the fans most to really get us over the hump.”
There certainly appears to be something different about these Breakers. There’s a toughness, energy and willingness to share the ball, and they’ve certainly all bought into Maor’s principles. They are defending consistently and collectively, rebounding with force and scoring the ball pretty well too for a new group.
“It’s a lot different than last year,” noted playmaking guard, and triple-double threat, Will McDowell-White. “You can see it. Even Mody has been smiling this year. We just want to play for each other, and as you can see we’re just having fun with it and that’s what it’s all about.”
Maor is certainly rapt with what he’s seen thus far – “I’m grateful for having these guys in my corner, man” – and talks about this quick-turnaround challenge being three-pronged.
There is a physical aspect dealing with the schedule and travel and a mental one for a young team “learning how to play in these circumstances”.
“And the third is the tactical part,” he adds. “We play South East Melbourne again and they have had six days to prepare for us. It’s about seeing what adjustments they can make.
“I’m happy we have a baseline of an identity – we kind of know who we are no matter who we are playing against and that’s what we’ll ride.”
Mitch Creek and the Phoenix, of course, will be no easybeats. At 1-3 they are desperate to get their show on track, import point guard Gary Browne makes his first appearance of the season and Ryan Broekhoff, Zhou Qi and Trey Kell will all be better for their first hitouts. Time once again for these Breakers to dig deep.
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