"Average" Not Cutting It in Breakers' Form Slump

“Average” was New Zealand’s head coach Mody Maor’s word of the day following Sunday’s loss to the Cairns Taipans.

The Breakers had a chance to win the game in the final moments with a Tom Abercrombie three-point attempt, but the four-time NBL champion missed the shot – meaning the Taipans emerged with a narrow two-point victory.

Despite the tight margin Maor remained less than impressed with how his team performed.

“I’m unhappy with how we played,” Maor said post-game. “We need to go and look inside ourselves, go look at tape, investigate and find out why we’re not playing the way we need to play.

“Our level of effort and intensity is not what it needs to be. It’s not what it was. We’ve pulled back.

“We’re playing average … average doesn’t get us where we need to go. Average doesn’t beat the Cairns Taipans. We need to be a lot better than average.

“We’ve slipped and I think this is a normal thing to happen in a season, but it’s been ongoing for more than one game.

“We need to flip the switch in a different way.”

The Breakers have endured a hectic schedule in recent weeks. Their Covid-enforced sabbatical in early December has seen them forced the make up the fixtures in the last few rounds.

The Cairns clash was their fifth game in 11 days. After opening the congested run of fixtures with two wins the Breakers have lost three straight to slip out of the top two ladder positions.

The run doesn’t get any easier heading into Round 16. They play Illawarra on Thursday, January 19 before taking on the Kings on Sunday, January 22.

Maor isn’t using the constant schedule of games as an excuse for his side’s dip in form.

“We’ve had a packed schedule and loaded periods three times already in the season and we still played with a level of effort and intensity I felt was special,” he said.

“Even when I knew the tank wasn’t 100 per cent full I felt the guys were giving everything they could.

“At the moment we’re playing a little bit too average and that’s not going to cut it.

“We’ve embarked together on the challenge of being a very good team. We’ve all signed up and committed to doing things a certain way, so we need to live up to the standards we set ourselves.

“I have trust in all of the guys in the locker room and I believe we’ll be better next game.”