Basketball: New Zealand Breakers forced to postpone match against Perth Wildcats due to lack of available players

The Breakers have been forced to postpone this week's match against Perth. Photo / Photosport

The New Zealand Breakers have been forced to postpone their scheduled NBL match against the Perth Wildcats on Friday night, being unable to field a team.

Between a bout of Covid-19 in the camp and injuries, the Breakers do not have seven players available for the clash in Perth. Under NBL rules, seven is the minimum number of players required to be available for a team to compete.

The match will be postponed, not cancelled, so the Breakers will not forfeit any competition points, and general manager Simon Edwards said they were working closely with the league to reschedule the fixture.

“They understand. We did everything the right way; we alerted them early in the week of a potential situation,” Edwards said.

The call to postpone the fixture was made late by the Breakers, who gave themselves as much time as possible to come to a positive conclusion to the situation. However, they weren’t able to find one.

For a side who were forced to base themselves in Australia for the last two seasons because of the pandemic, Edwards said there was a familiar feeling to the situation.

“It definitely feels like deja vu, but what the last two years have shown is we are resilient and have plans in place for this — organisation wide. The players understood the situation.

“We all want to play this game, but the last two years has meant we are in a position that this isn’t, unfortunately, new to us, and those conversations with the NBL, we’ve kind of had them before.”

The Breakers are scheduled to meet the Brisbane Bullets in Brisbane next Wednesday and are in discussions with the league around how to proceed with that fixture, however, coach Mody Maor felt he would be able to field a team by that point as the players with Covid-19 all had a “very mild” bout of the virus.

He said postponing Friday’s game created a less-than-ideal situation for the team as December was quite a spacious month on their schedule, and the end of their season was busy already.

“For us, what matters is we need a fair shake at winning this game, because every game matters,” Maor said.

“We’re not in the position where it’s just another game. We need this to be in a situation where we can play out there and perform in a good manner that represents our standing in the league, being competitive and looking to achieve things.

“I trust the NBL will do that.”