NZ Breakers coach Mody Maor discusses his team's playoff chances with eight games left in the NBL season.
Video / NZ Breakers
It’s been an emotional week for Anthony Lamb.
After putting up 31 points on his 26th birthday in the New Zealand Breakers’ 31-point win over the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix on Saturday night, Lamb took the opportunity to pay his respects to one of his former coaches.
Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević, 46, died after suffering a heart attack at a team dinner earlier this week while the Warriors were in Utah. He was a member of the staff in the 2022-23 season when Lamb was on the team, with Lamb playing 68 of his 94 NBA appearances with the Warriors.
“It’s been a tough week, honestly. In all my time playing basketball, I’ve met very few people that knew as much about the game as him, but also that was completely outshined by the type of person that he was and the character that he brought in day-in, day-out,” Lamb said.
“His ability to hold you accountable but respect you and make you feel welcome in everything you do is something that I don’t know if I’ll ever see in a person again and something that I want to bring with me everywhere I go.”
The Warriors confirmed the news on Thursday and have subsequently had games against the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks postponed as they dealt with the loss.
“I know it’s really hard on all the family members and all the people in the Warriors organisation. I only spent a year with him so I can’t imagine how somebody he gets to spend a lot more time with... would be able to react to that,” Lamb said.
Anthony Lamb played for the Golden State Warriors in the 2022-23 NBA season. Photo / Getty Images
“I’m so grateful for the times I had with him and I’m just praying that everybody’s doing okay over there and nobody ever forgets what a man, what a coach, what a father, what a partner, what a man he was in every way, shape and form. He’s somebody that I’ll miss for the rest of my life.”
Lamb was impressive in the Breakers’ slump-stopping win, with his 31 points coming from just 14 shot attempts. Lamb went 11-14 from the floor, including 3-6 from beyond the arc, adding a further six points from the free-throw line.
His output led the way for the Breakers, who were playing off the back of a 29-point loss in their previous game, but it was an all-round showing from the Auckland franchise.
The Breakers held the Phoenix to just 75 points, with the visitors only able to put 10 on the board in the first quarter. The Breakers had five players score in double digits, shooting with a 57 per cent success rate while holding the Phoenix to just 34 per cent.
It was the perfect way for the Breakers to resume their charge towards the NBL playoffs, moving them just one spot outside the top six with seven games left on the schedule.
“We’ve faced all the opponents that we’re going to play, so we’re not lacking in knowledge and understanding of what’s ahead of us. Now it’s just executing when we get there and believing we can do it,” Lamb said.
“It’s understanding that teams are going to try and take that away from us and being very conscious of how we attack that and deliberately try to keep adding flow and movement into the game and play with the rhythm that we like. When we continue to do that and make it our focus, all the other stuff comes pretty easy. I think that’s something that, whatever they throw at us, being prepared to try to combat how they’re trying to disrupt that.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
