Australian NBL, round 5: Friday: NZ Breakers @ Adelaide 36ers, Adelaide Entertainment Centre, 9.30pm (NZT). Sunday: NZ Breakers v Tasmania JackJumpers, Spark Arena, 4pm.
Star Breakers import Barry Brown Jr credits a “road dog mentality” with the early transformation of the Kiwi club from pretenders to contenders in the Australian NBL.
After just four rounds, the Breakers have made arguably the most emphatic statement of the young season, winning four of their first six games (to sit second overall, one win back of the Sydney Kings), and going 3-1 on the road through a brutal early schedule to emerge as a genuine playoff contender.
There is a lot of the proverbial water to flow under the bridge yet, but the signs are positive that in their first “normal” season since 2019-20, Mody Maor’s men have the skill, tenacity and wherewithal to make their first post-season appearance since 2017-18. They are already just one victory from matching their entire win total from last campaign.
That could come this weekend as round 5 marks the conclusion of a challenging period of six games in 15 days, including a trio of trips across the ditch, with a Friday night visit to the dangerous Adelaide 36ers, followed by a Sunday home clash against the red-hot Tasmania JackJumpers at Spark.
READ MORE:
* Breakers triumph against table-topping Taipans in club’s 600th game in history
* Red-hot SEM Phoenix crush NZ Breakers to snap their 3-game NBL win streak
* Aussie guard Will McDowell-White’s ‘flu game’ classic inspires NZ Breakers to road double
“It’s tough,” Brown told Stuff of a stretch that’s seen them yo-yo back and forth across the Tasman whilst also dealing with significant injury and illness. “But we have this road dog mentality – we get on the road where it’s a dog-eat-dog world, there are no excuses, you can’t feel sorry for yourself, and we understand that.
“We’re going into road games with that type of mentality. We know it’s going to be a hostile crowd, a great team, whatever … but if we go in with that road dog mentality we always have a chance, for sure.”
The Breakers’ most recent road win, 68-64 at the Cairns Taipans last Sunday, was certainly one of their more remarkable – coming as Brown returned from a three-game absence with hamstring tightness. The Kiwi club scored just 5 first-quarter points (equalling an NBL record) as they missed their first 15 shots and took over 8 minutes to score their only bucket of the opening period.
Yet they knuckled down on defence to keep the Taipans to 18 or under for all four terms, and ground out an unlikely victory behind 24 points from Brown in just under 30 minutes off the bench.
“We fought through adversity. In the second half our coach got on us a little bit, the players got on each other a little bit and it was just about staying confident and knowing who we are as a team,” said Brown. “We were able to slow the bleeding on the defensive end and then we just knocked down some shots and turned the tide.”
Brown’s presence certainly helped as he made 9 of 20 shots to account for over a-third of his team’s points. He was particularly lethal from inside the arc where he swished 8 of his 13 attempts.
“Barry is an important piece for us,” noted Maor. “He played well, but there’s still a lot more for him to do, and a lot of growth we expect from him on both ends of the floor.”
Brown is just rapt to be contributing again as he watched the Breakers scramble two key wins on the road – at the Phoenix and Illawarra – and then return, jaded, for a 22-point thumping at the hands of South East Melbourne at Trusts Arena.
“The boys did an amazing job,” he said. “I was so proud of them as they battled through adversity. It was defence and offence, everyone picked things up a little bit and we were able to get two out of the three wins.”
The Breakers remain a work in progress scoring the ball, as their Cairns travails demonstrated, but, with the exception of the Phoenix misfire, they have been able to hang their hat on a collective defence that is the best in the league. More of that will be mandatory, says Brown.
“Defence wins championships,” he added. “We know defence is going to be there no matter what. You make shots and miss shots some days but defence and effort are something that can be brought to the game, no matter what.”
Brown also likes that he and fellow ball-handling guards Izayah Le’afa and Will McDowell-White all pride themselves on playing lock-down D. “That’s rare …it separates the good teams from the great teams, and I feel like we are leaning towards being one of those great teams if we can continue to get better each and every game and practice.”
As for Adelaide, who, remember, knocked off the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, and have started the season 2-1, both Brown and Maor have no fears heading to the offensive juggernaut headed by star imports Craig Randall and Robert Franks.
“We’ll be ready for them, for sure,” said Brown with a smile, while Maor added: “I’m happy they’ve built the team they’ve built, but I like the team we’ve built and like our chances against anybody. We like challenges and I think this group will enjoy this competition.”
© 2022 Stuff Limited
