Breakers coach diplomatic on tough schedule
Breakers coach Mody Maor has just added a new mouth to feed in his family, so he’s a little short on spare cash for the league’s fine coffers.
For that, and other reasons, he chose his words carefully in addressing the Kiwi club’s brutal NBL schedule ahead of another gruelling away-home, FridaySunday double.
The normally eloquent Maor threw in several ‘‘no comments’’ and on several other occasions paused for thought before providing considered answers for a wellattended media throng ahead of practice yesterday.
Maor’s 8-3 Breakers are not only one of the hottest teams in Australia’s National Basketball League, but also the poorest treated in terms of the schedule.
Last weekend was a classic example. The Breakers played Friday night in Tasmania, had major travel issues (cancelled and delayed flights) in and out of Launceston, and then were asked to front again Sunday afternoon in Auckland against Adelaide after only arriving back at 3am on game day. Remarkably, they won both games.
They face a similar time crunch this round when they play tomorrow night in Cairns (like Tasmania, a two-flight, 11-hour trip each way) and return for a Sunday 4pm game against the Brisbane Bullets who sashay in at their leisure with no other commitments. The Breakers are scheduled to land at 1am on game day – and that’s only if everything runs to plan.
In essence they are being served up home games without the benefits of home advantage.
Maor is inwardly upset over the hand being consistently dealt his club, which spent the previous two seasons on the road to meet commitments through the pandemic.
On multiple occasions the NBL expressed its gratitude for the Breakers’ sacrifices, though is
response in ‘22-23 appears to be out of the Machiavelli handbook.
But outwardly the coach is toeing a diplomatic line, clearly not keen to get offside with the league, and also understanding the realities of his situation.
‘‘This is life in the NBL: a team from New Zealand playing in Australia always has its challenges,’’ he responded to a question on whether they were being hard done by. ‘‘I think there’s room for more logic in how the schedule is built but other than that we’re happy to embrace every challenge that’s thrown at us.’’
After passing on a question about player welfare (centre Rob Loe is a doubtful starter this weekend with back issues that may not be unrelated), he was asked if it was as simple as scheduling Friday games before Sunday followups in cities one direct flight from Auckland?
‘‘It seems very logical,’’ he said, with only a hint of a smile.
But he stopped well short of firing any barbs at HQ.
‘‘I don’t feel I’m being stitched up,’’ he said. ‘‘I feel the NBL can do better but I embrace every challenge they throw at us. You make life harder on this team and we will overcome it.’’
One of Maor’s big concerns is that his players are not able to put their best product on the floor at a time when the club is trying to win back a fanbase after being absent for two years.
But there is a flip-side to that equation. ‘‘If you’re a basketball fan and want to see people give you everything they got, come watch a Breakers game. This is a driven team. We will overcome any challenge anybody throws at us.’’