Owner backs Breakers to go all the way
The red-hot New Zealand Breakers are the team nobody wants to face in the National Basketball League finals.
That’s the view of Breakers owner Matt Walsh, whose side are close to completing a remarkable turnaround and securing their spot in the top four finals.
First up, the Breakers (14-13) must topple the struggling South East Melbourne Phoenix in their regular-season finale in Christchurch tonight.
They’ll then sit back and see how other results shake out with Brisbane (14-13) and Melbourne United (13-13) also still in mathematical contention for the last playoff berth. It’s likely the Breakers won’t know if they’re in until about 7pm Sunday (NZ time) following the Melbourne derby.
The Breakers looked a team in strife on November 24 following a
117-100 thumping by Adelaide, which dropped them to 2-8.
Avoiding a last place finish seemed their lot for the season. Playoff hoops seemed a pipedream.
The Breakers have been a force to reckon with over the second half of the season, going 10-3 since their last visit to Christchurch on December 20, and winning five of their last six.
If the Breakers can overcome the Phoenix and clinch the last finals berth, they would likely face the league-leading Sydney Kings in a best-of-three semifinal series.
Given the way they’ve played lately and new-found confidence, the Breakers are a side the Kings or Perth Wildcats, who are also in contention for top spot, would be wary of.
The Breakers beat the Andrew Bogut-less Kings in New Plymouth last month and pushed Perth all the way across the ditch in their most recent clash, losing
80-79.
‘‘I can tell you from a team perspective this team believes they’re the best team in the league and they believe if they get in the playoffs they can win it all and win the championship,’’ Walsh told Stuff. ‘‘It’s amazing seeing that belief that comes from [players] Scotty [Hopson], and Sek [Henry] and Tom [Abercrombie] and Finn [Delany].
‘‘These guys are not just aiming to sneak into the playoffs and then call the season a success, they believe they can win it all.’’
Walsh has been around basketball virtually his entire life, playing two NBA games with the
Miami Heat in 2005, and enjoying a long career in Europe.
He had never witnessed a stunning change in fortune like the Breakers had produced this season. Even when the team was losing games early on, he always believed they could turn it around.
Walsh was full of praise for first-year coach, Israeli Dan Shamir, who the club gave a twoyear contract extension to in early December, even when they were battling. Some questioned whether Shamir was the right man to guide the Breakers early in the campaign.
Their progress over the back half of the season had vindicated Walsh’s decision. ‘‘He’s the best coach in the league and I knew that when we hired him.
‘‘The thing that’s impressed me the most about Dan is he’s always level-headed. Even when we were losing games and things weren’t going our way, he trusted his process and he continued to put the work in and trust the results would come.’’
Shamir and the coaching staff deserved a ton of credit, but Walsh said the resiliency of the Breakers squad was pivotal to their form reversal.
They could easily have combusted over the dramas surrounding bad boy replacement import Glen Rice Jr, the death of muchloved manager Fata Letoa, or Corey Webster’s mid-season departure to China. It had only brought the squad closer together though, Walsh said.
‘‘We knew we had one of the most talented teams and we knew the new coaching staff . . . it would take time to pick up Dan’s systems and get used to each other.
‘‘We knew we had very high level imports. Scotty Hopson, I believe is the best player in the league. Sek Henry, I don’t think is getting enough credit.
‘‘This is what we envisaged and now we’re generally healthy, we’ve shown we’re one of the best teams in the league.’’
Tipoff in Christchurch is at 7.30pm.
‘‘These guys are not just aiming to sneak into the playoffs and then call the season a success, they believe they can win it all.’’
Matt Walsh
Breakers owner