‘We carried the weight of the last two years’
TWO gruelling years spent almost exclusively on the road in Australia hung like a lead weight on the shoulders of the New Zealand Breakers throughout their important homecoming victory over the Tasmania JackJumpers at Spark Arena.
It was why you couldn’t wipe the smile off the dial of first-year head coach Mody Maor after his team marked their first Australian NBL game on Kiwi soil in 489 days with a grind-out 71-65 victory over last year’s beaten finalists on Friday night.
The victory, which levels the team at 1-1 for the new season, was not without its anxious moments, as the Breakers’ offensive fluidity went missing in the second half, particularly in a third quarter where they mustered just six points on 3-of14 shooting. They also coughed up a shocking 21 offensive rebounds to hand the visitors a succession of second-chance opportunities.
But the Kiwi club, behind a 19-point outburst from American power forward Jarrell Brantley, hung tough to win a defensive battle over the gritty
Tasmanians and reward a crowd of over 5000 who turned up to welcome back their absent hoopers, and then celebrate with them afterwards.
‘‘There are technical and tactical things we can do better,’’ a satisfied Maor said. ‘‘This team should not score six points in a quarter. We are a talented offensive group. I felt our group had the weight of two years on their shoulders.
‘‘We controlled the first half and then the pressure to get this win out, and knowing what it means to everybody after these two seasons, that weight kind of stuck on our shoulders.’’
The coach was referring, of course, to the ill-fated 2020-21 and ‘21-22 seasons which threw the club on to a near permanent road trip. Not surprisingly, both were heavy losing seasons.
‘‘This win mattered to us a lot,’’ added Maor. ‘‘We all carried that weight coming into it.
That’s what you felt in the second half, and where the (lack of) fluidity came from.
‘‘A good basketball game comes from a nice balance between intensity and freedom. We had the intensity but we didn’t have the freedom because it meant so much, which was what you saw.’’
Veteran centre Rob Loe, who endured much of those two seasons on the road, said it had been vital the Breakers found a way to eke out a victory to mark their return home. ‘‘You felt the energy in the building and it really helped us through tough spots,’’ he said. ‘‘We really drilled down into what we pride ourselves on, which is defence. We struggled offensively and we need to be better on the boards, but just to get one under the belt was important.
‘‘To have the fans here was awesome. We fed from that energy and hopefully they keep coming back.’’
Brantley was big for the Breakers, especially in the first half when he poured in 16 of his 19 points.
‘‘Jarrell is a force,’’ said Maor. ’’He has the ability to be a mismatch on every given night. It’s on him to bring it every game, and it’s on us as a team to find him in his spots and in rhythm.’’
The Breakers also got handy efforts from Kiwi guard Izayah Le’afa (16 points on 4-of-10 shooting and 4 boards to offset 4 turnovers) and mercurial import Barry Brown Jr (13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists), while young French rookie Rayan Rupert, Tom Vodanovich, big man Dererk Pardon and Loe had their moments.
But it was on defence where the Breakers truly shone, limiting the visitors to 36% shooting from the floor and just 21 from the arc. JJs imports Josh Magette and Milton Doyle combined to go 5 of 22 on FGAs.
The Breakers now hit the road to the Phoenix (Oct 15) and Hawks (Oct 17) before returning for their next home game at Trusts Arena against South East Melbourne again, on October 20.