New Zealand Breakers guard Barry Brown Jr’s injury ‘where it needs to be’ for NBL grand final series

Barry Brown Jr has been dealing with a hand injury throughout the playoffs. Photo / Getty Images

Barry Brown Jr will take needs over wants ahead of the New Zealand Breakers’ first grand final appearance since 2016.

While the Breakers guard would like his hand to be fully recovered after injuring it late in the NBL regular season, the injury is where he needs it to be in order to play in the best-of-five grand final series against the Sydney Kings.

Brown Jr missed the final game of the regular season after sustaining an injury to his left hand but fought through a broken bone to help the Breakers see off the Tasmania JackJumpers in their best-of-three semifinal series. The import guard became more of a factor for the Breakers as the series went on, ultimately dropping 32 points in a big win in game three.

With almost two weeks between that game and Friday night’s grand final opener in Sydney, Brown has had a chance to rest up but admitted the injury was still not healed.

“It’s been going well,” Brown Jr said. “I’ve been able to just kind of rest it and get it prepared and allow it to just feel more comfortable mentally and physically with playing with a hand that’s not 100 per cent.

“You want to be 100 per cent, so I wouldn’t say it’s where I want to be, but I would say that it’s where it needs to be in order for me to perform.”

Brown Jr’s production off the bench has been a key factor in the Breakers’ successful run this year. Named the NBL’s Sixth Man of the Year, Brown Jr has led the Breakers in scoring with an average of 19 points per game and, with three assists per game, is their second-leading ball distributor.

Offensive production shapes up as a key to deciding the grand final.

Through their three regular season meetings, the Breakers showed they are capable of limiting the high-octane Kings offence, holding them to 81, 88 and 88 points; significantly lower than their per-game scoring average of 96 points.

The Kings hold a 2-1 winning record over the Breakers through the regular season and although the Breakers’ win came in Sydney, Brown Jr said it was the two losses his side took that gave them more to examine ahead of the upcoming series.

“We learned from wins and for sure and kind of tailor things to the things that we did well in those wins. But we definitely learned a lot, probably even more from our losses that we had against them,” he said

“Just being able to know what’s good and what’s bad and what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable on both offence and defence when you’re playing against a great team for the grand finals.”

Game one of the grand final will be contested in Sydney on Friday night, with game two at Spark Arena in Auckland on Sunday.