The New Zealand Breakers will be keeping the same energy for their NBL grand final decider on Wednesday night, despite the “chess match” being played off the court.
The Breakers produced yet another suffocating defensive performance — a defining feature of their season to date — against the Sydney Kingsin game four at Spark Arena to level the series at 2-2, a team effort that coach Mody Maor would later hail as the best of the season.
However, the supposed physicality of that Breakers effort, especially on defence, was questioned by a frustrated Kings coach Chase Buford, who argued after the game that the New Zealand side were “allowed to get away with stuff they weren’t allowed to in the first few games”.
“There was no freedom of movement,” he added before later storming out of the post-game press conference.
“At one point, it was 11-2, the foul count in the second half ... We were playing five-on-eight out there. It was clear.”
Maor quickly rebuffed Buford’s comments, defending his team’s style of play and the officials on the day.
“Chase Buford is a fantastic coach,” he said. “His team plays fantastic basketball. His team plays very, very physical basketball. Do not paint this as we play physical and they don’t — they play extremely physical and we love it.
“This is what we want in the playoffs. So all the noise to try and get a whistle for the next game, I’m not taking part of this.
“[The referees] didn’t let us do anything. They ref us the same way they ref anyone. Nobody lets us do anything.”
Tom Abercrombie and the Breakers huddle during their game-four victory over the Kings. Photo / Photosport
Breakers skipper Tom Abercrombie, who pitched in with a massive six steals on Sunday, remains focused on helping the team produce another strong defensive performance in the decider.
“All that talk is just a bit of a chess match really between coaches and whatever,” Abercrombie said. “As a player, we’re just focused on going out there and trying to play the way that we want to play and I think we did that [Sunday night].
“I think we’re a very, very good defensive team and when you play against a good defensive team, sometimes it can be frustrating. I think they’re a very good defensive team as well in, in a different way to us.
“It’s not easy defending the way that we do. It’s not easy playing against it. But it’s nothing different to what we’ve been doing all season long. It’s who we are. We play clean, we embrace that side of the floor, we enjoy it. It’s part of our identity.”
While the Breakers struggled shooting coming out of the gate in game four, they were able to limit the Kings to an even worse start right from the get-go – a pattern that would largely continue for the rest of the game.
Abercrombie said the key to securing the team’s first NBL championship since 2015 will be coming out with the same intensity as they did at home in Auckland.
“I think we were able to sort of rediscover our identity a little bit,” he said of the 80-70 victory. “We played the kind of basketball that we want to play. And certainly playing at home in front of a crowd like that really brought out the best in us.
“Obviously not going to have that kind of support on the road, but we’ve been a pretty good road team all year as well … But we want to come out the same way.
“Just another massive, massive effort. Absolutely emptying the tank again and giving everything that we’ve got. Playing hard, playing the right way, playing our style of basketball.”
