The Championship Series has Arrived

Friday, March 3, 2023

The New Zealand Breakers have officially touched down in Sydney

The New Zealand Breakers have officially touched down in Sydney, as team captains Tom Abercrombie and Xavier Cooks fronting the media for the final time before the Championship Series between the Breakers and Kings gets underway on Friday night.

Both Abercrombie and Cooks have been in this situation before. The Breakers' captain is a four-time NBL champion and played a key role in New Zealand's dynasty of the early 2010's, while Cooks himself raised the trophy last year with the Kings.

Both stars have alluded to the importance of Game 1 on the rest of the series, and have said it's important to strike first in the decisive series.

“Game 1 is really important, you want to come out and set the tone for the series and play the right way,” Abercrombie said.

“Who can control the tempo? They’re a slow paced team and we’re a fast paced team. Who can control those kind of variables wins the game,” Cooks added.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It's getting real ?<br><br>Who raises the NBL Championship trophy at the end of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a>? ?<br><br>It all kicks off ???????? ? <a href="https://t.co/8MTmPB3If5">pic.twitter.com/8MTmPB3If5</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1631149281389445120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While the pair remained calm, they iterated the significance of a tough storm brewing at Qudos Bank Arena.

The series kicks off in front of the Kings' home crowd at Qudos Bank Arena before heading back to Auckland for Game 2 on Sunday.

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Which captain will lift the NBL trophy at the end of NBL23?