Breakers Captain Comes Full Circle

New Zealand Breakers’ captain Tom Abercrombie has spoken on the thrill of coming “full circle” with the Breakers, after advancing to the NBL23 Championship Series following a seven-year draught.

Abercrombie is a New Zealand veteran and has played with the Breakers for 15 seasons, creating history with the team when he was a member of their first championship squad in the 2010-11 season.

The Breakers have won four championships in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015 and Abercrombie has played a vital role in all of them.

“It is a really cool moment to come full circle,” Abercrombie said.

“The game has changed a lot in seven years, this is obviously as good a team as we’ve ever had.

“It’s a battle in itself, once you get into a finals series and haven’t been in a best-of-five series either.

“All the series we’ve played have been best-of-three and best-of-five is a different animal.”

For the first time in seven years the Breakers will battle for the title when they go head-to-head with the Sydney Kings in a best-of-five game series.

Abercrombie has suffered multiple injuries in the past two years, while also battling being out of New Zealand as the team has dealt with COVID, and he is thankful for being in the position he is.

In the 2021-22 season Abercrombie missed majority of the campaign due to a side strain, and he missed the first month of this season from a torn retina that required emergency surgery.

Add in being away from his family and the Breakers living out of suitcases for two years, Abercrombie has experienced the lowest of lows and now has a chance to rediscover the highest of highs.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We&#39;ve made it to the big show ??<br><br>Game 1 kicks off in Sydney, with game 2 back in Auckland on the 5th of March ? <br><br>Ticket details to come. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNBREAKABLE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UNBREAKABLE</a> <a href="https://t.co/lMldvNfTp6">pic.twitter.com/lMldvNfTp6</a></p>&mdash; Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1627231517297545219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“The last couple of years, I never thought I’d be back in this position so I’m not going to take it for granted. I’m going to enjoy this position and have fun,” Abercrombie said.

“Excited to get back on that stage and get a chance to represent this club in the finals series again.

“As it was before the backbone of this team, our identity and our culture is a really strong point and it’s something that’s carried us through the tough times this year.”

New Zealand has a chance to win their fifth title in club history, and their first since 2015.

Game 1 of the best-of-five series is on Friday March 3^rd at 7:30pm AEDT at Qudos Bank Arena. Watch the game live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach and 10 play, and Sky Sport in NZ.