Breakers guts it out to roll past Adelaide 36ers

Travel woes shall not weary them. The New Zealand Breakers shrugged off a brutal Australian NBL weekend of flight cancellations and frustrating delays to go two-from-two with a high-quality yesterday victory over the wellrested Adelaide 36ers.

The Kiwi club followed up Friday’s 84-76 victory at the Tasmania JackJumpers in Launceston with an 89-83 win over the Sixers. It improved them to a stellar 8-3 for the season and dropped the visitors to 4-5.

The Breakers by rights should have been out on their feet even before the game started after spending more time in planes and on tarmacs in the last few days than anywhere near a basketball court. But they shrugged off multiple cancelled flights, severe delays and a 3am arrival back in New Zealand on game day to wear down the Sixers with a resolute allround display.

Barry Brown Jr paced the Kiwi club with a sweet-shooting, and game-high, 22 points, including a huge step-back triple late in the final stanza to put his team out by six (86-80).

The Breakers also got a pair of outstanding performances out of their import big men, with the muscular Jarrell Brantley pouring in a double-double of 17 points and and Kiwi NBL standout exploding for 13 points in nearly 15 minutes.

The visitors were paced by Antonius Cleveland’s 17 points while Robert Franks added 14.

The Breakers had every reason not to be anywhere near their best for this Sunday afternoon clash in west Auckland, given their arrival home on the morning of the game, after being hit by cancelled flights and travel delays in both directions, and while they were waiting in Tasmania on Saturday to catch their rescheduled flight (via Sydney), the 36ers were in Auckland, working out at the Breakers’ practice facility getting their game legs under them.

Never mind. This is a Breakers outfit in 2022-23 who aren’t big on embracing excuses, and they came out for this key clash understanding that they had to shake off the tired minds and the weary legs, and get back to work as well as they could.

They did that pretty well, truth be told, trailing 25-17 after a shaky first period, but charging back with a 28-18 second term to get their noses in front, 45-43, at the major break behind a dozen firsthalf points from the bruising Brantley and 11 from the slick McDowell-White.

The Kiwis retained their slender lead (65-63) after a tight third period, but finished much the stronger as Pardon and Brown made some massive plays down the stretch.