Breakers player Barry Brown Jr throws down a pivotal dunk against the Kings. Photo / Photosport
Breakers 80
Kings 70
The New Zealand Breakers are still alive.
A day after Backstreet was back at Spark Arena, this time the Breakers stormed back into the NBL grand final, beating the Sydney Kings 80-70 to level the series at 2-2.
The decider will be in Sydney on Wednesday night, and while the Kings will be favourites, this undulating series will get the finale it deserves.
The Breakers ensured as much with a quality performance in the must-win clash. Jarrell Brantley led the way with 23 points, Will McDowell-White stuffed the stat sheet as usual with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists, and Barry Brown Jr (20 points) overcame a slow start to score the game-killing key buckets late that sent this series to a decider.
Sydney, who never led in the game, saw their star players limited by foul trouble, and their role players were simply meh as nobody stepped up with the series on the line – a fact that could not be claimed of the Breakers.
At times it wasn’t pretty, but Breakers games rarely are – this team have got this far based more on defence than blowing teams off the court, with the additive offensive sparks from their imports crucial to get them across the line.
A low-scoring first quarter was indicative of what was to come in game four. The Breakers were shooting only 33 per cent from the field, but the Kings were worse, and impressive early rebounding from the hosts allowed them to get extra possessions and eventually extra points.
The fouling issues hampered Sydney from the tip, with key import Derrick Walton Jr constantly drawing the referees’ ire, while star player Xavier Cooks had to sit before halftime with three fouls.
Cooks, soon to join the Washington Wizards in the NBA, was kept largely in check. The Breakers’ defence was swarming throughout, and when their first defender was beaten off the dribble, rotations came flying over to help out.
The most prominent was Brantley, who was pivotal to the Breakers’ early run that gave them a handy buffer. Brantley connected from outside and inside as the Breakers built a 15-point lead shortly before halftime, despite struggling from deep.
Only hitting four of 18 three pointers in the first half, the Breakers weren’t firing on all cylinders, but again the Kings were worse – in part because of the Breakers’ defence – while the Breakers were continuing to convert well inside and capitalising on second-chance opportunities.
However, their 39-27 halftime advantage dissipated in the third quarter. Initially the teams went blow-for-blow, with the Breakers countering all of Sydney’s fightbacks, but eventually the Kings’ class began to show.
Walton Jr, briefly free of foul trouble, started to heat up to reduce the Breakers’ lead to five, and while Brown Jr briefly responded, Angus Glover connected on two triples to reduce the deficit to one as the Kings took the quarter 25-15.
The Breakers weren’t rattled though, and steadied the ship to take a two-point lead into the final period, before coming out of the blocks on a 5-0 run to start the fourth.
Sydney managed to keep the deficit at three or four, but then Brown Jr took over.
A pull-up jumper forced a Kings timeout, and, after a timely contribution from veteran Tom Abercrombie, Brown Jr’s thunderous breakaway dunk with 3.44 to go put the Breakers up by nine and looked to have sealed the deal.
If anyone from Sydney still believed, there was no doubt 71 seconds later, as Brown Jr stepped back, released an absurd high-arcing three, and watched it swish through the net.
Game. See you in Sydney.
Breakers 80 (Jarrell Brantley 23, Barry Brown Jr 20, Will McDowell-White 19)
Kings 70 (Derrick Walton Jr 18, Angus Glover 12)
1Q: 18-12. HT: 39-27. 3QT: 54-52.
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