Paul Henare. Photo / Getty Images
Opinion
If the Breakers stumble tonight on their march to victory in the Australian National Basketball League Championship when they play the Cairns Taipans in front of a hostile home crowd, it will only delay the inevitable.
Indeed, it will mean veteran point guard Paul Henare will get the send-off he
deserves on Wednesday in front of local fans at the game's spiritual home in this country, the North Shore Events Centre.
Such sentiment will not figure in the Aucklanders' thinking. They will be wanting to press home the advantage they accrued on Wednesday, when they handed the Taipans an 85-67 drubbing in game one of the best-of-three finals.
Victory will make the Breakers the first New Zealand team to win an Australian competition - it has eluded the Wellington Phoenix in football's A-League, the Warriors in the NRL and the five netball teams in the ANZ Championship.
It's a result richly deserved by a team that has had a rough ride in the eight years since its foundation. Coach sackings, ownership hassles and generally dreadful results have all made for a rocky road and the side has earned its name the hard way.
It has also proven that Kiwis can excel in the big Australian leagues. The recruitment of guard CJ Bruton, a proven performer with other league-winning teams, and the presence of coach Andrej Lemanis give the side a good Aussie twang and shows a willingness to recruit people who get the job done.
But the team is commendably full of Kiwis (including the best player in the league in Kirk Penney) and has a nice blend of experience and youth that bodes well for the future.
It is also, as this week's performance showed, a real team, not a support act for Penney. Their 14-point halftime lead was amassed without a player reaching double digits, and seven players had points against their name by the final whistle.
In short, this is no flash in the pan, but a group of players seizing what is rightfully theirs. Let's all cheer for them tonight.
