The New Zealand Breakers have two important games left in the regular season. Photo / Photosport
The New Zealand Breakers have two important games left in the regular season. Photo / Photosport
The New Zealand Breakers have their eye on an NBL playoffs run. The route, however, is still to be determined.
After earning a spot in the playoffs for the first time in five seasons with their win over Melbourne in Auckland last Saturday, a top-two finish is now well inreach for the Breakers — a mark they haven’t achieved since the 2014-15 season in which they won the championship.
Heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, the Breakers and Cairns Taipans appeared to be in a battle for second behind the Sydney Kings, with the Taipans holding a two-win advantage over their Kiwi counterparts.
However, a loss to Adelaide on Monday night saw Cairns’ lead over the Breakers drop to just one win and, as the Breakers have a game in hand over the Taipans, winning their last two games of the regular season will ensure they finish the regular season second on the ladder.
That makes a big difference in the context of the playoffs, as the top two teams go into the semifinals and earn home advantage in those best-of-three series, with the rest of the top six entering a play-in tournament to compete for the two remaining semifinal spots.
It’s a strong position for the Breakers to be in, and now only the bottom two teams — Illawarra on Thursday night and Brisbane on Saturday — stand in their way.
“We’ve worked very hard to be in this situation. This is a goal we set for ourselves the first day of preseason; this is a goal that we coaches set for ourselves the first day we assembled around building this team,” coach Mody Maor said.
“As an athlete, this is what you want; your [outcome] in your own hands. Now it’s on us to go out there and perform, and we welcome the challenge.
“It’s not about winning two; it’s about winning the next.”
Dererk Pardon and Daniel Fotu of the Breakers celebrate after beating Melbourne United at Spark Arena. Photo / Getty
The Breakers checked off the first of their goals for the season with the win over Melbourne last week — both qualifying for the playoffs and hitting the 16-win mark for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign. Individually, Maor has been nominated for coach of the year, Barry Brown Jr for sixth man of the year, Will McDowell-White for most improved player, and Dererk Pardon for defensive player of the year.
But while the Breakers have already achieved plenty this season, they still have work to do before the campaign is over.
“I’m very far from satisfied. The feeling of satisfaction has no place for me within a season. Have there been boxes where we can say we’ve progressed from here to here? Yeah, but there’s still a lot more to accomplish.”
Ever since taking the reins of the Breakers, Maor hasn’t just been motivated by results. He has often noted his desire to bring the club back to where it can hold a special place in the hearts of local fans after a few tumultuous years.
While that is a hard impact to measure, Maor said he felt appreciative that a 6000-strong crowd came out for their game against Melbourne the night after Auckland had been hit by torrential rain and subsequent flooding.
“This place is special, it has a special history, it represents something special in basketball on this side of the world and in basketball in the world, period,” Maor said.
“To have any sort of responsibility in maintaining, rebuilding, reshaping or progressing this legacy, the meaning that this place has is a responsibility that I welcome. So far, we’ve been able to do right by that legacy and I hope that any endeavour we have in the future will be the same.”
