Calculated Kings Spark Breakers

The war of words has continued ahead of the final Championship game with New Zealand Breakers’ owner, Matt Walsh, labelling Sydney Kings’ coach, Chase Buford, as “calculated” and “tactical” following his post-match outburst on Sunday night.

Buford stated his side was playing “five against eight” after the loss – inferring the three officials were on the Breakers’ team all night.

<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/4Fyp6wEPU3lhYyaWLFyzKt?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>

“Chase is very tactical and he knows what he’s doing and he came in with the intent to leave everyone saying, ‘Did Sydney get screwed?” Maybe in Game 5 the refs will go the other way, and that’s part of it,” Walsh said on a special edition of NBL Today.

“I think Chase knows what he’s doing and I think he’s doing what he thinks is best for his team and I respect that, and I respect Chase as a coach – he’s a very good coach.

“He mentioned earlier this year we played like the All Blacks then for three quarters they got called for three fouls and we got called for 25. That’s tactical and that’s part of it. That’s gamesmanship and I don’t begrudge Sydney or Chase at all.

“It was calculated, but I love Sydney. I’m envious of what they do and I hope we’re the two teams people look at and go, ‘They’re run the right way’.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SydneyKings</a>&#39; coach Chase Buford has frustratedly walked out of the post match media conference after being questioned about the physicality of the game. <a href="https://t.co/eH0cPFkK4a">pic.twitter.com/eH0cPFkK4a</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1634820938054373376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

On the All Blacks comparison, Walsh didn’t shy away.

“We want to be a team like the All Blacks in that we want Kiwis to be part of that and I think we’ve missed the mark on things in the past. In five years we’ve made mistakes and we’ve done things well, but this year I think we really nailed it with the kind of roster we built,” he said.

“To be compared to the All Blacks in New Zealand is the highest honour you can have. We built this team with the intent of being tough.

“We built this team with the intent of being the best defensive team in the league and we finished second, so there was certainly intent with how we built this team. If you want to compare us to the All Blacks … I’m happy for the comparison.”

Walsh’s Breakers take on the Sydney Kings in Game 5 of the NBL23 Championship Series on Wednesday, March 15 at 7:30pm AEDT – live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies | Sky Sports and Prime in New Zealand.