Tassie Challenge Just Another Opportunity - Maor

New Zealand Breakers head coach Mody Maor sees the prospect of their do-or-die Game 3 clash with Tasmania on Sunday as just another challenge the side needs to go through to reach its goals.

The JackJumpers kept their season alive last night with an emotional 11-point win over New Zealand in front of a raucous MyState Bank Arena.

The loss saw the Breakers slump to a 1-11 record at the venue after using it as a home base during the recent Covid-19 impacted seasons.

“We enjoy playing in hostile environments. We’ve been doing this for a long time,” Maor said post-game. “We got outplayed. The JackJumpers responded and plated great, we didn’t defend to the level we defend and our offence was a little bit stagnant.

“We never expected this to be easy. These are the Playoffs of the NBL – every team that came here is great and this is supposed to be a high level of competition. You’re supposed to be challenged and tested and this is exactly what we’re looking forward to.

“We really, really, really wanted it [and] sometimes that takes you to a place that’s not necessarily a positive one, but I have so much faith in this group.

“We have – they have – overcome every challenge that’s been thrown at them so far and I’m sure this is going to be very similar.”

From the first minute of the game Tasmania’s major defensive tactic was on full display. Don’t let Will McDowell-White have the ball.

Whether it be a full-court press from Matt Kenyon, or immediate double-teams when he stepped over the half-court McDowell-White struggled to influence proceedings to the level he did in Game 1.

Despite the close attention he still finished with eight points and four assists.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How&#39;s this for a press breaker!? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNBREAKABLE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UNBREAKABLE</a> <a href="https://t.co/Pb0vgrPvVS">pic.twitter.com/Pb0vgrPvVS</a></p>&mdash; Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1626148299064639489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Maor says his side will be looking to their regular season experience to help them overcome the JackJumpers on Sunday afternoon.

“We never look too far and we never search too deep for answers. We have a very clear idea of who we are and a very clear idea of how we do things on both sides of the floor,” he said.

“We have a phenomenal regular season – and when I say that I don’t mean results.

“We’ve been through everything. We went on winning streaks, we went on losing streaks, we won close games, we won tight games, we’ve lost by a lot, we’ve lost by a little.

“We’ve learnt a lot and this was a new team so it was important we learned those lessons and now we need to implement them.”

Game 3 of the Playoff Series between Tasmania and New Zealand takes place at Spark Arena on Sunday at 4pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies,

With the series poised at one win apiece, the winner of Sunday’s clash will advance to the Championship Series against either Cairns or Sydney.