Breakers Rediscovering Identity Key to Being Top of the League

The New Zealand Breakers may be sitting pretty at the top of the ladder, but coach Mody Maor is far from satisfied.

After taking down both Queensland teams in Round 8 of NBL23, the Breakers leapfrogged Sydney into first place courtesy of Cairns' victory over the Kings - the same Cairns team the Breakers defeated just three days prior.

The 10-3 Breakers are a stark contrast to last season’s bottom-of-the-ladder squad. But coach Maor says his team isn't focusing on their success on the table. 

“It means nothing to us, it means nothing because the way the NBL is built, the table doesn’t mean that much,” Maor said. 

“We haven’t played the same amount of games as everybody, we haven’t played the same competition, we haven’t played against every team. What matters is the game against South East [Melbourne Phoenix], what matters is we defend, what matters is how we compete. 

“All the rest is just noise.” 

Post-game against the thrashing of the Bullets, Maor wasn’t satisfied with his team’s efforts. He defined what has worked for his Breakers and what they need to continue to maintain their success. 

“Winning is always an intersection of a lot of things, it’s about how you perform as an individual, it’s about how a team is performing together. It has to do with technical, tactical, mental and physical aspects,” he said. 

“At the moment, I feel like we are at an upward trend in all of those and then all of those we are very far away from where we want to be as a finished product. 

Maor explained that he isn’t satisfied with the Breakers' defensive effort, despite their league-leading defensive rating. 

“For us to achieve anything, it goes through us being very very good on the defensive end,” he said. 

“You plant flowers in your garden, those flowers bloom, you stop taking care of them and they are going to wilt. It’s the same with our defence, it’s something that needs constant maintenance and something that needs constant pushing and something that needs constant growth.” 

Team captain and four-time Breakers champion Tom Abercrombie said earlier in the week that the team has found its identity again after a couple of tough seasons on the road. 

Coach Maor elaborated on what he's taken from those teams and brought into his Breakers team. 

“The identity of the Breakers is something that is rooted in a few factors, it’s rooted in its history, the kind of players and teams that were here and won,” he said. 

“If you look at them there is a common thread to how they played, how they went about their business, how they conducted themselves. 

“The other part of their identity is the country, it’s the people, the culture, what an athlete, a sportsman and a competitor in New Zealand looks like. We tried to bring in people that fit that mould, then we try to push the buck as far as we can in order to create an environment that fosters those kinds of behaviours. 

“We root out the weeds as aggressive as we can, and we don’t let anything else bad pop up. A little bit of luck always helps and good people around helps a lot.”