The Loe down: How Breakers big man bounced back from his dark days
No-one is enjoying the New Zealand club’s run to the NBL’s grand final more than big centre Rob Loe, who’s having a ball. reports.
For two years basketball stopped being fun for Rob Loe. In fact you could say the Breakers centre, and key impact man off the bench in this run to the NBL’s grand final, hit his low point in what shall henceforth be known as the Covid years.
But that was then. And this is now. The Breakers, under firstyear head coach Mody Maor, have well and truly left the dark days of their Australia exile behind them, charging into their first first National Basketball League grand final since the 2016 2-1 defeat to the Perth Wildcats.
The Auckland-based outfit will meet defending champions the Sydney Kings in a best-of-five series to decide the title starting on Friday at Qudos Bank Arena (the first time they’ve played in the extended format) and, after an 18w-10l regular season and a 2-1 semifinal victory over the Tasmania JackJumpers, they are a decent chance to claim a fifth championship in club history.
It’s all a long way from the
5-23 campaign of 2021-22, spent entirely on the road in Australia, or even the 12-24 season before that where the Breakers only returned home for a handful of games at the end, when their season was toast, and they were mentally fried.
Loe, perhaps more than anybody, found those two seasons tough going. He departed, for the first of them, just before Christmas in 2020 amid the uncertainty of the pandemic, and with emotions taut as he left behind his wife Kelly and their new baby boy to go play hoops.
He did not last long, returning to New Zealand in February to rejoin his family, leaving behind a team shocked to lose one of their key figures. Later, when the borders reopened, he would rejoin the group, but by that stage they were playing for pride only.
The next campaign wasn’t a heck of a lot better. Loe played a full part, this time with wife and child alongside, but struggled for form, for a purpose, and soon fell out of coach Dan Shamir’s rotation. It was only a midseason hiatus with the Tall Blacks in the Philippines that saw him re-find his confidence, and his shot, and he returned to play a more prominent role in a team mired on struggle street.
‘‘It was just a tough grind, personally and on the court,’’ reflected Loe of those turbulent times. ‘‘Having my son right at the start, it definitely provided a lot of highlights off the court, but as it showed the first year, I wasn’t around and didn’t get to experience those highlights in person. That’s something that really haunts me to this day.
‘‘Eventually I went home because of that. It was very tough. Basketball is a team sport, and I get what that means.’’ He’s asked if he ever fell out of love with basketball? If the sport became such a grind he stopped enjoying it?
‘‘I dont think it became a chore,’’ he reflects. ‘‘I still went in and worked every day, I was still one of the biggest supporters on the bench, and I never lost the love for the game. But it was hard.’’
And now? With a rebuilt roster – Loe, skipper Tom Abercrombie, Aussie guard Will McDowell-White and thirdstring centre Sam Timmins are the only playing survivors from that period – and a major change in mindset under Maor (defencefirst has been the mantra for ‘22-23 amidst a return to the hard-nosed Kiwi identity of the championship years), the Breakers have returned to the post-season for the first time in five years, chasing their first title since 2015.
‘‘Basketball is one of the greatest sports in the world (‘The
‘I still went in and worked every day, I was still one of the biggest supporters on the bench, and I never lost the love for the game. But it was hard.’ ROB LOE
greatest,’ reminds his adjacent coach),’’ says Loe. ‘‘It’s a great group of guys to be around, we’ve got a great culture, and we work hard. It’s fun to work with these guys, and the camaraderie really shows.
‘‘It’s also really enjoyable being home this year, having a support system in place, my wife gets to go back to work, and all these little things that add up.
’’I’m really happy. When Mody was building this team he talked to me about playing like myself again, and being myself, and contributing any way I can. We have great players and great people, and we build each other up . . . we’re our own biggest fans.’’
Loe recalls that tough period when the DNPs were racking up, and believes the interlude with the Tall Blacks came at just the right time.
‘‘I was trying to work out every day as hard as I could, and that’s why I did pretty well with the Tall Blacks. I was ready and didn’t let my game slip just because times were bad. If you stay ready anything can happen.’’
Loe has certainly been ready this season. His numbers aren’t spectacular (6.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 57% shooting at around 12 minutes a game), but he has had seven double-digit nights and has developed a knack for making key plays in relief of starting big Dererk Pardon.
The big Tall Black, who should make the cut for coach Pero Cameron’s World Cup squad later this year, stops short of calling this Breakers campaign ‘‘payback’’, but puts the big turnaround down to three key things.
‘‘Mody has brought a great culture and a great new group who have bought into that culture. We’re at home, so we’re with friends and families. And getting to play at home in front of crowds this year is pretty special.’’
You ask him to expand a little on the Mody factor, mentioning that McDowell-White made it clear he only re-signed because Maor was head coach.
‘‘He’s brought a huge change. Just the way he handles us as people and as players is cool. Will’s sentiment runs through the team. A lot of guys wouldn’t have come if Mody wasn’t here. And the staff he brought in have been fantastic. Everyone has bought into the ride, we’re enjoying being around each other, and we’re winning some games.’’
And doing it with a real Kiwi identity – sleeves rolled up and getting up and in on defence.
‘‘We’ve brought in some
Kiwis who will do anything for the team. That’s what the Tall Blacks have always been about – doing whatever we can to win. Normally that’s on defence because we’re not quite as gifted on the world stage compared to those NBA guys.
‘‘Bringing that culture in — our imports are great, our Aussies are great, and we’ve all bought in to the same culture where we’d do anything for each other, and to get the win. It’s awesome to be part of a team like that.’’
What dark days?