Breakers embrace the hurt of NBL title defeat

After his side lost the decisive game of the NBL championship series, New Zealand Breakers CEO Matt Walsh made a point to stay for the entirety of the Sydney Kings' on-court celebrations, and to not look away.

"One, because I think it's the right thing to do, and two because I wanted to feel every single moment of it," Walsh said on Wednesday night.

"Because I don't want to feel that again."

In their first full season back at home since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, New Zealand surged from the bottom of the ladder and into the championship series under rookie coach Mody Maor.

Once there, they threw the gauntlet down, first by winning game one in front of a hostile Sydney crowd and then by forcing a fifth game with a gutsy victory in Auckland last Sunday.

But at Qudos Bank Arena, the Breakers' fairytale season was cut short by a fast-finishing Kings side, who claimed a 3-2 series win with their 77-69 victory.

The Breakers made the Kings defy history to clinch their second-straight title - since 1997, only once before had the team that lost game one of the NBL play-off series gone on to hoist the trophy.

The rags-to-riches story ended cruelly, but the Breakers won't be afraid to read and re-read the final chapter in the off-season, hoping that will inspire them to go one better next year.

"We're not going to run away from how much this hurts," Maor said.

"We're going to use this as fuel to come back better next season."

The Breakers will use the coming days and weeks not just to dwell on the defeat but to consider what was achieved in their first campaign back home.

The team's highlights for the season included breaking the record for largest basketball crowd in New Zealand history (9742), registering their best win-loss record since 2014-15 and recruiting three of the most effective imports in the competition.

Above all, Walsh and Maor hoped they had moulded the Breakers into the team they spent the best part of five years envisioning.

"We wanted this team to play in a way, to conduct itself in a way that our fanbase, Kiwis, feel proud of," Maor said.

"Over the last month, there were a few instances when it was really clear that we achieved that goal. I'm very proud of it, now it's on us to do it again."

Walsh, who led the ownership group that bought the Breakers in 2018, also used the defeat as an opportunity to take stock.

"When I first bought the team, I went to a Melbourne United vs. New Zealand Breakers game two elimination game. I don't know how many people were at Spark (Arena) but it wasn't 9730," he said.

"We wanted to build a team that resonated with New Zealand fans, after being gone for two years. It wasn't just all of a sudden it happened, we've been working on this for five years.

"We're going to work all off-season, the work starts as soon as we get back on the playing roster and how we can connect with our community and fans better. 

"We're in no way finished. We'll be back."