Maor's best Breakers wins

The New Zealand Breakers are going to be almost unrecognisable in NBL25. Despite the fact Dane Pineau and Parker Jackson-Cartwright are the only two players confirmed to be returning from last season’s Finals run, there was a feeling that despite a totally rebuilt roster, Mody Maor would once again work miracles with an almost entirely new group.

Now, though, even that is not a given. With the Breakers’ announcement Maor will be departing his role to pursue other opportunities effective immediately, they’ll enter this season without three former faces of the franchise in Maor, club legend Tom Abercrombie, and the departed Will McDowell-White.

It’s impossible to understate the impact Maor had on guiding the Breakers back to competitiveness within the NBL, after the club’s horror experience in Covid. He came within a quarter of lifting the NBL23 title in his first season in charge, and proved his NBL23 success was not just a mere flash in the pan with last season’s success.

Now New Zealand’s world-class coach has headed out of the NBL and into the ether, it’s worth reflecting on his tenure in charge of one of the competition’s resurgent clubs by looking at some of the greatest results he masterminded while in charge.

This is by no means an exhaustive, objective list, but these four games offer an insight into how Maor helped change the trajectory of a club - and an entire basketballing nation - through his exploits in charge.

Round 5, NBL23 – NZB def TAS 94-62

When Maor took over head coaching duties from Dan Shamir, he was taking over an ailing franchise.

Their most recent post-season appearance had come in 2018 when the likes of Mika Vukona, Kirk Penney and Shea Ili were representing the club, and they had finished NBL22 rooted to the bottom of the ladder with a 5-23 record.

The Breakers entered their Round 5 clash against defeated NBL22 Championship Series contenders Tasmania on a strong run of form, which included 26 and 29-point wins over Illawarra and Adelaide respectively, and a six-point win over the JackJumpers less than a month prior.

The nature of this result, in which the JackJumpers were held to a tied-franchise record low of 62 points established this early run of form was no early-season fluke, but the Breakers were a genuine NBL threat once again.

Although 92 points is a strong, winning score in the NBL, it was a win that was built on the foundation of exceptional defence and a gritty, no-nonsense interior presence on both ends of the floor.

Dererk Pardon was at his brutal best with 15 points and 14 boards to establish his early contention as the competition’s Best Defensive Player, while Barry Brown Jr caught fire with 24 points.

The JackJumpers may have still been a young club – and still are, even after winning the NBL24 title – but they once again ended this season as title contenders. That didn't stop the born-again Breakers relegating them to their biggest defeat in franchise history.

The sweetener on top of the incredible victory was that the win saw New Zealand climb to the top of the NBL ladder for the first time since their Round 11 win over Sydney in 2018. Almost 100 rounds and four years had passed since, and they found themselves at the pinnacle once more.

Mody Maor was a mastermind at work, and this was the game his exploits really began to be noticed around the wider NBL landscape.

Championship Series Game 4, NBL23 – NZB def SYD 80-70

New Zealand’s dream run to the NBL23 Championship Series looked set to end in Auckland in Game 4. Sydney had wrestled itself into a 2-1 lead and their 23-point Game 3 win looked to have broken the back of the Breakers’ resistance. However, the New Zealand faithful turned out in droves to rally their team and force a decisive fifth game.

A record crowd of almost 10,000 turned out to Spark Arena, in a game where the club and arena were forced to find as many extra seats as possible to meet demand, and Maor’s Breakers did not disappoint the deafening fans.

A first-quarter defensive masterclass in which the Kings were held to just 12 points set New Zealand up for a historic win, and although Sydney bit back to trim the margin to just two points at three quarter time, the Breakers rallied to emerge as 10-point victors.

Jarrell Brantley, Barry Brown Jr and Will McDowell-White all starred in the victory, but it was a win that meant more than keeping the club’s title hopes alive. It was a win that reinforced how basketball was now back at the forefront of the minds of New Zealand.

No club was impacted more dramatically than the Breakers during Covid. They stayed in Australia to help save the NBL22 in the face of overwhelming uncertainty. They were separated from friends and family, and the club was separated from its most ardent of supporters.

The way in which the whole nation rallied around the Breakers for this game, and the wider series, made it evident the club had once again captured the hearts and minds of fans young and old, much in the way the title-winning sides of the early 2010s did.

Although they let the series slip in the final quarter of Game 5, this series – and this game – proved Maor had well and truly led the Breakers back into relevance within New Zealand’s sporting landscape.

Round 19, NBL24 – NZB def ILL 88-85

For all their success in NBL23, it looked like New Zealand was a genuine prospect at missing out on the post-season entirely for much of NBL24.

The injury bug bit the Breakers in pre-season, and it bit hard without ever letting go. Will McDowell-White was sidelined with multiple injuries, Justinian Jessup was put on ice just two games into the season and was replaced by Anthony Lamb, Zylan Cheatham suffered a serious foot injury, and then Lamb ruptured his Achilles.

Through all the adversity though, the Breakers stuck fast to their task, and a late season run catapulted them back into Finals contention.

Such was the tightness of the NBL ladder last season the Breakers faced a number of clashes that were, basically, win or go home – but none represented the do-or-die nature of their late run more than their breathless win over Illawarra in one of their final games of the regular season.

The Breakers had a congested schedule to end the campaign, with back-to-back double-headers staring them down in rounds 19 and 20, and a clash with fellow Finals chasers Illawarra kicked off proceedings.

Much like he had for stretches of the season, MVP candidate Parker Jackson-Cartwright put the Breakers on his back with a massive 31 points, while Next Star Mantas Rubstavicius hit a handful of clutch shots to finish the game with 13 points.

Illawarra led for much of the fourth quarter, but the Breakers hit the front with two minutes to go. When Tyler Harvey trimmed the margin to two points with a minute left, thoughts of the prior season’s buzzer-beating Harvey winner came flooding back.

The Breakers steadied though through the exploits of Jackson-Cartwright, and although Illawarra registered the final score of the game to trim the margin to three, the Breakers had kept their season alive.

The victory helped the Breakers scrape into the competition’s final Play-In spot over Brisbane on percentage alone to round out an incredible regular season resurgence.

Play-In Qualifier, NBL24 – NZB def SYD 83-77

New Zealand met its old enemy from the NBL23 Championship Series in the NBL24 Play-In Qualifier, and their clash with the Kings was, genuinely, win or go home.

The Breakers headed to Qudos Bank Arena – the same venue they let the prior season’s title slip through their fingers – to take on a Kings side that, although seen to have underachieved in the season to date, was a dangerous post-season prospect.

Funnily enough, the final quarter of this clash was almost the inverse of what happened in Game 5 of NBL23. The Breakers looked down and out, and were walking wounded, but a final quarter surge pulled victory from the jaws of defeat.

Zylan Cheatham could hardly walk due to injury, but put in a warrior-like performance to hold the paint down for the Breakers. Parker Jackson-Cartwright, once again, hammered home his quality with a massive 34 points, and New Zealand progressed to the Play-In Game.

If there is any game that perfectly personifies Maor’s tenure as head coach of the Breakers, it’s this one – his final win with the club.

Through injuries to Cheatham and Anthony Lamb, they were staring down the barrel of massive adversity. All looked lost when they entered the half-time break on the wrong side of a nine-point margin in a game where they had, largely, been second best, but they found a way.

Maor’s side has often married perfect support roles with individual brilliance. In this case it was Jackson-Cartwright who was the star, with fellow import Cheatham, Will McDowell-White and Mangok Mathiang all chipping in to help elevate the side over the Kings.

The dream run ended at the hand of the Hawks the very next game, but this victory felt like a full circle moment after the heartbreak suffered against the same club the season prior, and gave retiring veteran Tom Abercrombie just one more brilliant Breakers night to be a part of.