Series at Breaking Point

New Zealand Breakers coach Mody Maor has demanded a fair hearing, refuting any narrative that suggests his side are bullies on the court. 

"[Do] not paint this as we play physical and (Sydney) don’t," he said after the gutsy 80-70 Game 4 win at home.

In what has been one of the most physical Championship Series in history, Maor didn't want to buy into any talk about the calls.

"Everybody is doing the best that they can," he said.

"I sat here after three games in the Series and I didn’t say one peep about the referees because they are doing the best that they can. All the other noise belongs somewhere else.

"I for sure didn’t get any help from anybody to win this game."

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He added that Sydney also plays a physical brand of basketball.

"Chase Buford is a fantastic coach, his team plays fantastic basketball, his team plays very very physical basketball. Do not paint this as we play physical, and they don’t," Maor said.

"They play extremely physical, and we love it, this is what we want in the playoffs.

"All the noise to try and get a whistle for the next game, I am not taking part in this."

Star point guard Will McDowell-White reiterated the Breakers’ physical demeanour has been clear all season, and said the team ramped it up to avoid what would have been a season ending loss.

"We did what we have done all year, we’ve always been a physical team," he said.

"We didn’t want to give up at home."

The Breakers were out in full force on Sunday, with a crowd of 9,728 packing into Spark Arena, the biggest ever for a game in New Zealand. 

Maor was more than satisfied with how his team competed for the full 40 minutes.

"We competed; every second we were on the floor," Maor said.

“We stayed with it ... we kept competing. Even when shots didn’t fall, even when the whistle didn’t go, even when we made mistakes, we kept competing.

“We made them (the Kings) play away from the three-point line, we kept them away from the paint.”

Sydney made a run going into the fourth quarter, as it managed to slow down the Breakers and make it just a two-point margin at three quarter time.

New Zealand showed no signs of losing though, regaining the momentum quickly, rebuilding their lead, and storming home to victory.

Top scorer Jarrell Brantley (23 points) spoke after the game on New Zealand’s chance at winning the championship.

"We’ve got to be a little bit smarter and a little bit stronger. If we’re the team that can do that, we have a chance," he said.

Maor said Brantley’s aggression and contribution was what he expected of him in this game and praised his performance.

"When Jarrell Brantley is aggressive, we’re good," Maor said.

"Jarrell was aggressive in his spots, played exactly the way I wanted him to play."

The 2022/23 NBL Champions will be decided on Wednesday night at Qudos Bank Arena at 7:30pm AEDT. Watch the game live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, and Sky Sport and Prime in New Zealand. 

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