Breakers

After a contentious lead-in, the hope is that the Breakers and Kings players will decide the NBL title in the old fashioned way – who plays the best hoops.

“Playing hard, playing the right way and playing our style of basketball.” But the Breakers have Brantley and Brown Jr. The Breakers love to defend. The Kings love to score. Whenever there’s talk and storylines round a five-game series things are going to bubble to the surface. Who makes the most shots, the most stops, deserves to win. I sat here after game three in the series and I didn’t say one peep about the referees because they are doing the best that they can. First-year Breakers mentor Mody Maor, who should have won the NBL coach of the year gong, was equally dismissive: “Everybody is doing the best that they can. The whole thing reeked of grandstanding and agenda-setting … They’ve been excellent on the road all year, they have arguably the two best offensive players of the series (Jarrell Brantley and Barry Brown Jr) and they play a rugged, hard-nosed, defence-first style that often prevails in deciding contests like this. The narrative this week has been very much set by petulant (some might say cry-baby) Kings coach Chase Buford when he launched a premeditated attack on the Breakers and game officials following the game-four defeat at Spark on Sunday. In a series locked at 2-2, where each team has had moments of ascendancy, and periods in the doldrums, it’s how it should be.

Gidday! Happy Wednesday to everyone out there, and an especially happy Wednesday to the good folk in the NZ Breakers basketball team, whose game five decider ...

[Newsable](https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/newsable/) is all about what everyone’s talking about. And who better to preview the game (and get a little emotional) than superfan Guy Williams? The attacks prompted the Christchurch Call, a global initiative led by Jacinda Ardern asking tech companies and nations to come together and fight a united front against violent extremism online. Our live coverage starts at 9.10pm. Listen to today’s episode in the player below. [Newsable](https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/newsable/) is brought to you by [ BNZ](https://www.bnz.co.nz/).

That's the word from basketball fanatic Jeff Green, who says the Breakers have been one of the few teams to push the Sydney Kings on their home court this ...

“The losses they’ve had in this finals series, they’ve had a tremendous amount of turnovers so they’ve got to value the basketball and not give it away cheaply. The second thing is they’ve just got to shoot better. If they can shoot the ball well they are one of the few teams that have gone into Sydney and beaten them.

Tonight's championship-deciding Breakers game is hours away. They're facing the Kings in Sydney, hoping to score their first NBL title since 2015. NZ Break.

The MK Breakers put on a scintillating display of basketball at their last home game of the NBL 3 East regular season.

The sell-out crowd at Bletchley Leisure Centre, while accustomed to such dominant displays, was as loud as ever while the team put on a dominant display of skill and teamwork. The visitors struggled to keep up with the Breakers’ intensity, fired up from the sell-out crowd, and found themselves trailing by 21 points at the end of the first quarter. The Breakers hosted the Northampton Mavericks and took control of what would turn out to be a fiery game from the opening tip-off, ending the game with a staggering 132-58 victory.

The performance of the referees grabbed the headlines in the last couple of games of the NBL Finals, but the Breakers are ignoring the chatter as they ...

The Kings have also won the title four times. Abercrombie and the Breakers have won the NBL four times. "Everyone wants to win and we're going to go out and try our best, try not to put myself in that position too much of imagining what could happen because there's a job there to do and that's what I'm focussed on."

The 2023 NBL Championship Series final between the Sydney Kings and New Zealand Breakers kicks off Wednesday, March 15, on ESPN and Kayo.

“There was no freedom of movement. After an 80-70 home victory by the New Zealand Breakers levelled the NBL grand final series at 2-2 on Sunday, The Sydney Kings will play for a second straight title in a grand final series decider at Qudos Bank Arena. After four games, The Sydney Kings meet the New Zealand Breakers for the NBL Championship tonight at 7:30 pm, with coverage starting at 7:00pm with The Jump pregame show.

MK Breakers cruised to victory in their final home game of the campaign, thrashing Northampton Mavericks 132-58. A week after wrapping up the NBL 3 East ...

Eric Arriaga in particular displayed his shot-making talent making three 3-pointers over the course of the game. Mike New Jr would score 10 of those points, with the Mavericks defenders unable to control his automatic jump shot early on. Advertisement

App users click here for latest updates. Kings 59 Breakers 66. Fourth quarter. Fourth minute - Cooks draws a fourth foul on Abercrombie, so both on the ede.

Behind 21 points from Derrick Walton Jr and 19 from Xavier Cooks the defending champs got the job done in front of 18149 fans at Qudos Arena.

The Breakers got 11 first-half points from Brantley and 9 from McDowell-White but had some momentum to regain after the halftime break with just a one-point (36-35) lead. Just hours before tipoff, Breakers owner Matt Walsh was sanctioned and fined $1500 for breaching the NBL code of conduct for a tweet he made about the officiating during game three of the championship series. But Maor relied heavily on his top seven players, with Cam Gliddon (5:39) and Rayan Rupert (2:03) the only others to see action, and it cost them in the end. They also got a courageous 12 points off the bench from Angus Glover, who shook off a sternum injury to make some big plays down the stretch, including a remarkable dunk off his own 3-point miss that hit the side of the backboard, and 11 points (on 4-of-4 shooting) from ultra-aggressive backup forward Kouat Noi. The Breakers were paced by Barry Brown Jr’s 22 points, on 8-of-18 shooting, and 4 rebounds, but there was an over-reliance on the playmaking guard late in the piece and it cost them dearly as their scoring dried up. At that stage they looked to have the energy, and the urgency, to go all the way.

NZ Breakers 69. Sydney Kings 77. A fairytale finish wasn't to be for the New Zealand Breakers. Just one season removed from finishing at the foot of the NBL ...

But just as it looked like the defending champions were about to take over, the Breakers refused to let that happen and fought back through some big baskets to Izayah Le’afa and Brown Jr. While the Kings were struggling across the board, the Breakers were doing the opposite. With one game to decide the series, the Breakers played with a tight rotation. The side made their intentions clear through the opening 10 minutes, with more than 60 per cent of their shot attempts falling to see them double up the Kings’ score and hold the hosts to a season-low 11 points in the first quarter. While Cooks had his struggles defending Brantley, he made up for it through his offensive production and rebounding, and Walton seemed to find teammates in space and rhythm with frequency. On one end of the floor, they were playing lockdown defence and rebounding the Sydney Kings’ many missed shot attempts. On the other, they were filling the bucket up at a high rate. Import guard Derrick Walton Jr was a maestro with ball in hand, finishing with 21 points, six assists and the championship MVP award, while NBA-bound big man Xavier Cooks was a force with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Instead, the Kings went on a 14-0 run to build a seven-point lead of their own, ultimately closing out the series and claiming their second-straight NBL championship. The third quarter started as the second finished, with the Kings getting to the hoops early to build a four-point lead. It was the Breakers who took the early advantage, building a three-possession lead with seven minutes to play. Aside from sixth man of the year Barry Brown Jr, Rob Loe was the only bench player to see a big role.

The Sydney Kings have won the 2022-23 NBL title by defeating the New Zealand Breakers 77-69 in the fifth and final game of the championship series at ...

(team-high 21 points, six assists) gave the Kings their first lead since early in the first quarter and proved a sign of things to come. The American began to make things happen for the Kings in a tight third quarter. Sydney were unable to attack the paint as normal, locked out by resolute New Zealand defence and forced into taking low-percentage shots.

The Sydney Kings have won back-to-back NBL championships after beating the New Zealand Breakers 77-69 in a thrilling sudden-death final in Sydney tonight.

With McDowell-White and Dererk Pardon causing problems for the Kings defence, and the home side getting into foul trouble early – giving up seven fouls to four – coach Mody Maor would have been thrilled. With Glover clearly nursing an injury, and the Breakers holding a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter, hopes would have been high among the visitors down the stretch, but they were overwhelmed by the Kings in the final three minutes. The Kings had to come back from a 12-point deficit in the first half and the Breakers had a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter before the home side took the lead with 3 minutes 2 seconds remaining and didn’t look like conceding it.

Coach Chase Buford won't call it a dynasty yet, but the Sydney Kings have defended their NBL title by defeating the New Zealand Breakers 77-69 in the fifth ...

A jump shot from Walton (team-high 21 points, six assists) gave the Kings their first lead since early in the first quarter but New Zealand imports Barry Brown Jr. For masterminding the Kings' attack from the back-court, guard Derrick Walton Jr. The Breakers were quicker to come out of the blocks, leading by as many as 11 points in the first quarter and doing well to muscle the Kings out of the paint and force them into low-percentage shots.

Kings go back-to-back after epic NBL finals win as fan's 'disgraceful' act slammed.

The Breakers fouled him. The fans exalted. Walton Jnr put the ball on the ground and nodded to the fans. The Breakers burned a coach’s challenge. The clock ticked down. When he ally-ooped a second one it was Breakers by six. Jordan Hunter missed a jump shot after the ball did a full lap of the rim. It was Breakers by seven. It began like this: League MVP Xavier Cooks won the tip-off but the Breakers won the ball then fluffed their first ping at goal. Noi made a three for Sydney. The DJ’s bass beats bounced about. Mainly it was fabulous entertainment.

Sydney Kings' reign continues as Breakers are forced to settle for second in the Australian National Basketball League.

The Kings reduced the deficit in the second quarter as their shots started to drop and the Breakers offence struggled. The home side outscored the Breakers 24 to 14 in the quarter to be behind 36-35 at halftime. In the closest finals series since 2018, the Breakers started the stronger of the two sides getting out to a 22-11 at the end of the first quarter.

Derrick Walton Jr claimed series MVP honours with the guard notching 21 points and six assists in game five while NBA-bound forward Xavier Cooks chipped in with ...

The game was played in front of a record crowd of 18,124 at Qudos Bank Arena. With the sides trading wins throughout the series after the Breakers took the opening game, the Kings roared back late in the decider with an 18-3 run to clinch the title. The Sydney Kings have won back-to-back NBL titles defeating the New Zealand Breakers 77-69 in a fifth and final game of the Championship series on Wednesday.

In the moments after a heartbreaking 77-69 defeat to Sydney Kings, that sealed an ANBL finals series defeat, NZ Breakers coach Mody Maor assures that the ...

Jarrell Brantley, Dererk Pardon and Barry Brown Jr all joined on one-year deals and will test the waters on the open market, while Next Star Rayan Rupert will ...

Maor got his recruitment spot on last year with Brantley, Pardon and Brown Jr, who were the team’s top three scorers. I love Will because of the way he plays basketball, aside from how he is as a person. “Watching him progress over the last three years has been amazing and we’re going to do everything we can [to bring him back]. Both players are toward the end of their careers — at 35 and 31 years old — but made big contributions this season, so the Breakers will have to decide whether to bring them back. Now step four is consistency and I’m really looking forward to taking this step together as well.” This season, McDowell-White emerged as one of the league’s top point guards showing improvement in every element of his game — posting career highs in points, assists and rebounds per game.

NZ Breakers coach vows to grow from an NBL finals campaign that came so close to finishing on a chumps to champs fairytale note.

“I was always clear we were going up against the best team in the league, the best coach whose team played their style to the highest level ... Their three imports were all outstanding – they will all be welcomed back in a heartbeat, though that’s not the way in these things – and in Will McDowell-White they have one of the most influential locals in the league. “To analyse the season properly it’s important to differentiate between what we did right, and what we did wrong. A big part of it comes down to our ability to make spot 3s. The Breakers did a lot with a group that had its limitations. We were able to create an environment where everybody feels appreciated and everybody feels a part of. There are a lot of things we did the right way that led us to be in game five against the defending champions with a chance to win. “One thing we did great was putting great people in this building. At the same time what are the things we did well? In one year the genial, yet intense, Israeli rebuilt this programme from the ground up, and delivered a team that his public couldn’t just be proud of, but were positively bursting at the seams in their appreciation for. In 2021-22 the Breakers, with Maor as an assistant, went 5-23 on a permanent road trip from hell and were in tatters. In the decisive minutes the Kiwi club ran out of puff, and the back-to-back champions from Sydney most definitely did not.