How to watch & talking points: New Zealand v Adelaide

23 Jan 2026

new zealand breakers

adelaide 36ers

League-leaders Adelaide travel to Spark Arena for a Round 18 clash with the New Zealand Breakers.

New Zealand Breakers (7th) v Adelaide 36ers (1st)
Friday, January 23, 5.30pm AEDT
Spark Arena

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Talking points

Adelaide's response
For the first time in NBL26, the league-leaders Adelaide have suffered back-to-back losses, falling to Tasmania and South East Melbourne.

It will be interesting to see how the 36ers respond and try and avoid three straight defeats, against a desperate Breakers outfit.

In those two losses, the 36ers only managed an average of 80.5 points per game, well below their season average of 91.7.

Breakers' door open
Despite being two wins behind sixth-placed Tasmania, the door is well and truly open for them to make a run at the Finals, especially due to the JackJumpers' mounting injury toll.

If the Breakers play like they did in the second half against South East Melbourne on Wednesday, they'll compete with any team int this competition, so it's imperative they bring that energy and committment from the jump on Friday.

With just seven games remaining for Petteri Koponen's side, every game is vitally important.

What they're saying

Breakers coach Petteri Koponen on big man Sam Mennenga:
“Sam is having an unbelievable season, and the work he's put in is paying off.

“He was super-aggressive [on Wednesday night], and they didn't have a lot of solutions against him.

“He had a great dunk too, and even as a coach, sometimes you are amazed at the things your players can do. [After all] it's their game, so we want to help guide them to go out and do what they can.”

36ers coach Mike Wells on his team's two straight losses:
"We're on a two-game losing streak but I won't overreact to this [defeat], even though it would have been nice to play well and win, and we didn't play 36ers basketball.

"I'm more concerned with the pace and rhythm of our team. In our two previous games, we controlled the pace and today we couldn't do that. Their (South East Melbourne's) pressure sped us up and we didn't make decisions quick enough. Their pace and physicality meant it was play on their terms.

"They thrive on the second-chance opportunities and they had seven and-ones to go with 11 three-pointers they made, so you're never going to beat them when that happens.

"[Right now] every coach would be worried about their defence and it might have taken us a bit too long to pick up our rhythm [because of that]."