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Ready to break free

Down a head coach and a couple of key figures, the New Zealand outfit is taking a no-excuses mentality into its NBL season opener tonight. Marc Hinton reports.

Madcap Mody Maor is ready. The big question is will the extrovert assistant coach’s New Zealand Breakers be in Melbourne tonight after a problematic buildup to their NBL season opener.

The Breakers tip off the 2021-22 Australian National Basketball League season in less than propitious circumstances, with a Covid-19 outbreak and side-strain injury to skipper Tom Abercrombie playing havoc with preparations for the clash against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Abercrombie is out, with the starting small forward expected to sit the first three weeks of the regular season. Head coach Dan Shamir, one of nine members of the travelling party to go down with the virus, will also miss the game, handing the reins to his long-time No 2 Maor ahead of his expected return to full duties on Monday.

The Breakers will also be down at least one other starter – though were keeping that identity a closely guarded secret as long as they could. They had 13 of their 14 players at training on Thursday in Melbourne (Abercrombie included), indicating that two of the three roster-members who had contracted Covid-19 had recovered. It remains to be seen what part, if any, they will play in the opener.

Whatever bodies they have at their disposal, it has been a horror buildup, with the Covid outbreak wiping out their final pre-season hitout and thrusting the team into isolation right when they needed to be on court.

All of this came after the Auckland lockdown had severely limited preparations prior to their early-November departure.

But mindsets are focused and steely in the camp. Senior power forward Finn Delany has shrugged off the setbacks and called on whoever hits the court to be ready. It was an approach echoed by Maor who maintains it’s all about what the Breakers do have, rather than what they don’t.

``It’s different than how you would like to prepare for your first game of the season,’’ said the Israeli. ``We were all quarantined for a few days, so we lost a little bit of our fitness and a little bit of our game shape. We also missed a game that was very important for us in a troubled pre-season already.

``But we have a great group of guys who came in and did the work and we feel confident. There is a feeling of déja` vu, but we have all learned from our challenges. This is a tough group and I think this time we have a better chance of overcoming them.’’

Last season, of course, the Breakers played their first 29 games of an ill-fated campaign in Australia, spending 154 days in total across the ditch. As Maor mentions, there is a familiarity about the challenge looming this season, though one a vastly different group will deal with in its own way.

``Before Covid came through we’d had a really good couple of weeks and made huge improvements,’’ said Delany of a period that saw them roll both the Sydney Kings and Phoenix. ``It’s hard to know where we’re at, but we’ve had really good practices, and I’m proud of the guys, and proud of Mody, in how we’ve dealt with it.’’

For his part, Maor, a vibrant personality whose courtside demeanour normally contrasts with the stoic Shamir, vows to make the most of his unexpected promotion.

``I love this team, I love this club and I care about Dan a lot and don’t want to let him down,’’ he said. ``I want him to feel like he has the time and space to get better and doesn’t need to rush anything. And I want to help the team win so he feels good.’’

As for the step up in responsibilities, the experienced Israeli coach feels ready for what’s coming.

``This has been forced up on us, but it’s the hand we’ve been dealt and the hand we’re going to play,’’ he said. ``It’s very different . . . the difference between making suggestions and making decisions.’’

There had been signs pre-season the group was coming together nicely. Imports Peyton Siva and Jeremiah Martin had hinted at their class, young French duo Hugo Besson and Ousmane Dieng had produced confidence-boosting efforts and the local pieces were shaping nicely. Yanni Wetzell, in particular, had looked a seamless addition.

But how much has the time off curtailed momentum? And can they cope without the key figures they will be absent?

Then there’s the Phoenix to

consider. They are a quality group who return a lot of pieces from the team that was one bad quarter from making the grand final last season. Mitch Creek and Ryan Broekhoff provide the Aussie class, new import Xavier Munford looks a quality point guard, Kiwis Reuben Te Rangi, Tohi Smith-Milner and Izayah Le’afa will play their roles and China’s Zhou Qi shapes as an influence in the paint.

Delany tagged the Phoenix a ``talented group who like to play fast’’ but felt the Breakers had a good handle on their opponents after a couple of pre-season sighters.

Problematic buildup or not, it is time for Maor’s men to shine.

Sport

en-nz

2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282621741000102

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