Maor's "True Joy" At Breakers Roster

“True joy”. That’s how Mody Maor describes having his whole roster available for the first time in NBL23.

One of the more extraordinary parts of the New Zealand Breakers’ rise to second on the ladder this season is they’ve done it without key players over the course of the entirety of the campaign, whether it be Barry Brown in the early stages of the season, Rayan Rupert through late last year, or Will McDowell-White in recent games.

McDowell-White was a star on his return for the side and stuffed the stat-sheet with 10 points, five rebounds and seven assists, but Maor says it will be business as usual with his full roster now at his disposal.

“We were fortunate to play our first game today with a full roster,” Maor said following his side’s two-point win over Adelaide. “[It was a] true joy to see everyone and have everyone.

“Now it’s about finding your role and your spot within this [team], getting comfortable with the rotation, finding the rotations that work and, most important for me, you don’t need to manage your minutes anymore as a player.

“You go all out every second you’re on the floor.

“I think we felt that through significant periods throughout this game but not for 40 minutes. That will be our goal for the next one.”

Through the centre rotation of Daniel Johnson and Kai Sotto the 36ers looked to take away one of the deadliest weapons in the Breakers’ arsenal – Dererk Pardon.

Pardon was restricted to just four field goal attempts across the game, and the physical competition he faced on the boards saw Adelaide dominate the rebound count.

New Zealand still found a way to utilise Pardon though. Maor says the extra attention afforded to his centre opened up other avenues on the court.

“Every time you draw attention to one place it means the blanket is going to be missing somewhere else,” he said.

“We played today against a lot of traps, so the ball needed to fly and find the corners for open shots.

“We had a lot of good things with that today but, like everything, we could do better.”