The two best teams are left standing in the NBL with the Sydney Kings and New Zealand Breakers to face off in the Championship Series but they had to battle hard to overcome the brave Cairns Taipans and Tasmania JackJumpers.
The NBL Championship Series is now set between the Kings and Breakers, but it could have easily been different with the Taipans and JackJumpers forcing both semi-final series to three games.
The Breakers dominated the JackJumpers in Game 1 at home 88-68 last Sunday but Tasmania hit back impressively in Hobart on Thursday to win 89-78 in Game 2 to force the decider back in Auckland on Sunday.
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New Zealand proved too much led by the season-high 32 points from Barry Brown Jr to win 92-77 and book in their place in a first Championship Series since 2016.
It then turned out quite the spiteful and heated series between the Kings and Taipans including Sydney coach Chase Buford ejected in Game 2, and he and centre Tim Soares fined for incidents in that game on Friday.
Sydney did beat Cairns at home 95-87 in Game 1 on Wednesday but the Snakes hit back to win 93-82 in that Game 2 setting up a decider on Sunday. The Kings prevailed 79-64 on a standout defensive performance led by Jusin Simon.
The Kings and Breakers will now meet in a best-of-five Championship Series beginning Friday March 3 at Qudos Bank Arena.
The delayed start is due to the FIBA window this week which sees the Australian Boomers play Bahrain on Thursday and Kazakhstan on Sunday, both in Melbourne.
PLANNING PAYS OFF FOR BREAKERS COACH TO LIVE DREAM
When New Zealand Breakers coach Mody Maor put together his plans of building his team for NBL23, he had a clear vision both in terms of play and culture he wanted to create. It’s fair to say it’s worked and now there’s nothing he’s looking forward to more than battling the Sydney Kings.
It was quite the mission that Maor embarked upon at the end of last season. He replaced the man he’s worked under around the world, Dan Shamir, and took over a team and club just exhausted after the last two years thanks to COVID and that needed an overhaul.
Maor’s focus firstly was on working out the culture his team wanted to possess, the characters he wanted involved and how they wanted to conduct themselves. Secondly was the style of play to be based on intense, physical defence for 40 minutes and then efficient offence.
On both fronts, Maor and the Breakers organisation have hit the spot perfectly to have now reached the Championship Series for the first time since 2016 as they attempt to win a fifth championship when things get underway against the Sydney Kings on Friday March 3.
To start with, the Breakers nailed their imports. Dererk Pardon could be the best genuine big in the league at both ends of the floor and Jarrell Brantley is quite the all-round talent as a power forward as well.
Then there’s Barry Brown Jr who provides that lethal scoring punch highlighted by his 32 points in a match-winning display in Game 3 of the semi-final series against the Tasmania JackJumpers at Spark Arena on Sunday.
Bringing New Zealanders home with Izayah Le’afa and Tom Vodanovich was important too as was retaining local veterans Tom Abercrombie and Rob Loe, and adding yet another future NBA first round draft pick Rayan Rupert.
Add in the experience of Cam Gliddon, the continued growth into one of the best point guards in the league of Will McDowell-White and the Breakers have not only been an outstanding team, but also one that plays with great heart and character.
That clearly starts with their coach and the energy Maor displays is infectious, but his pure love of the game of basketball shines through too. That rubs off on his players and that’s why even when he’s demanding more of them, there is a genuine love there.
Maor now can’t wait to take on the regular season champion Kings in the Championship Series starting next Friday and is proud of what he’s helped to build.
“There is nothing in the world I am looking forward to more,” Maor said.
“They’re the defending champs, best team in the league and this is what finals is supposed to be. You get to play against the best to see what you’ve got and we’re looking forward to it.
“You don’t drag in what happened before into what’s happening now. The beautiful thing about basketball is that every season is a new book, not even a new chapter and we knew exactly what kind of people we wanted in the building. That’s where it starts.
“The second thing we knew was how we wanted to play and we brought in people that fit what we wanted to do on defence and who we wanted to be as an organisation and as a team. Those were the first steps and the main ones.”
Coach ejected after dodgy flop call | 01:45
POST-GAME ACT SHOWS WHY JACKJUMPERS HAVE CONNECTED
The Tasmania JackJumpers have won the hearts and minds of the community of the Apple Isle and what captain Clint Steindl did to try and brighten up a young fan in Auckland highlights just how genuine that connection is.
Even if you just look at what the JackJumpers have accomplished on the court in their first two seasons in the NBL and reaching one Grand Final, and being within one game of reaching a second is quite the feat.
It’s a better start in the NBL for any expansion franchise in the history of the league and they gave themselves a real shot of back to back Grand Final appearances with a stirring win in Hobart on Thursday night in Game 2 against the New Zealand Breakers.
While winning Game 3 on the road like they did a year ago against Melbourne United in the semi finals might have eluded them with the Breakers winning on Sunday, it shouldn’t take away from what the JackJumpers have done.
When Scott Roth arrived as coach, the club didn’t exist, the fight for the hearts and minds of the Tasmanian community was up for grabs and there was no such thing as a JackJumpers brand.
Not only have the JackJumpers been successful on the court after two seasons, but what they’ve done within the community of Tasmania is even more remarkable.
Suddenly so many youngsters in the state is dreaming of playing for the JackJumpers and are wearing the green proudly every day, and feel like they have a sporting team on a national stage that is truly theirs.
That has taken a lot of work. The entire JackJumpers organisation has put in enormous time and effort to connect with the community and it’s paid off.
The connection the state of Tasmania has with their team is unlike anything else in the NBL and it just happens to be a bonus that the team itself has battled above their weight and given them plenty to be proud of on the court.
It’s that connection with the community that has a young fan like Henry travel with his family to Auckland for Sunday’s Game 3 and why he was so devastated his team couldn’t quite get over the line afterwards.
When captain Clint Steindl saw that, he put aside all of his own emotions having just had his season ended and put Henry first. That’s why not only have the JackJumpers won the hearts of so many, but why Steindl himself has been the ideal first captain.
“We did the handshake line and were walking off the floor, and the little fella was in tears,” Steindl said.
“So I just had a chat to him and kind of walked off but saw my shoes and took them off, went back and gave them to him. He was still in tears but I just told him to keep his head up.
“He travelled all the way out to see us get a win and unfortunately it didn’t happen so it was just something I thought I could do try and put a smile on his face.
“As much as I tried, he still had the tears but maybe he can put them up in his bedroom or something and it will give him something to aspire to. That’s what we’re trying to do in Tassie and I just tried to help the little fella out.”
Xavier Cooks wins NBL MVP | 00:45
DELAYED START TO BENEFIT KINGS AND COOKS
The league’s MVP Xavier Cooks battled through an ankle injury to help his team into the NBL Championship Series but now the 12 days before Game 1 against the New Zealand Breakers will be of great benefit to him and the Sydney Kings.
The Kings came into this season as the defending champions and while they did have expectations by many of being favourites to go back-to-back, it shouldn’t be undersold their achievements to now be back in the Championship Series.
Sydney lost all three imports from that title winning team with the departures of Jarrell Martin, Ian Clark and league MVP Jaylen Adams. To replace them was never going to be easy but they’ve done tremendously with the additions of Tim Soares, Justin Simon and Derrick Walton Jr.
However, the key to any success the Kings have had this season has gone with their captain Cooks. Fresh off becoming a championship winning captain and Grand Final MVP last season, he has gone to another level in NBL23.
Despite any arguments over the merits of Bryce Cotton winning a fourth MVP award, it’s hard to deny Cooks was a deserved winner and after all he was the best player on the best team in the league.
Cooks showed his MVP credentials with a spectacular performance in Game 1 of the semi finals against the Cairns Taipans where he produced 27 points and 14 rebounds in a match-winning performance.
He rolled his ankle early in the second half of Game 2 in Cairns on Friday night and didn’t return. There were questions over whether he would play in Sunday’s decider or indeed what impact he could have.
Clearly he was not close to 100 per cent, but he shook off the pain to still deliver 11 points and 11 rebounds in his team’s eventual 79-64 victory over the Snakes to book a spot in a second consecutive Championship Series.
The Kings will now host Game 1 against the New Zealand Breakers on Friday March 3 at Qudos Bank Arena and this is where the near two-week break thanks to the FIBA window before the Grand Final starting will benefit Cooks and the Kings.
“Going back to the other night and they told me if I really needed him that he could play, but I just felt like in the moment he wasn’t very good in that game anyway, and it didn’t feel like we were having much of a chance to win it,” coach Chase Buford said.
“It just seemed smarter to shut him down and give him every chance for this game. I know he was hurting and he battled like hell to play in the game and to play as well as he did.
“He had 11 rebounds and I just can’t thank him enough, and couldn’t be prouder of him. He’s just a warrior and hopefully this extended layoff will give him time to get healthy.”
TAIPANS DEFY THE ODDS TO GET EVER SO CLOSE
Cairns Taipans coach Adam Forde always knew he’d feel up against it trying to battle the bigger clubs and whether it was the change in officiating in Game 3, his team’s injury woes or a rough finals schedule, one thing never changed and that was the pride he had in his group.
The Taipans did end their season frustrated on Sunday after losing Game 3 of the semi finals to the Sydney Kings, but they deserve to be proud of everything they overcame to get so close to the Championship Series.
Even just in the semi-final series against the Kings, the Taipans started it having already played two Play-In Games just to reach it having lost to the Tasmania JackJumpers and then defeated the Perth Wildcats.
Then they started the series against the Kings missing superstar forward Keanu Pinder and energetic guard Tahjere McCall. Then while McCall returned for the last two games of the series, they lost their cool-headed and efficient point guard Shannon Scott with a hamstring injury.
The Taipans did win Game 2 on their home court on Friday night to force a deciding game back in Sydney on Sunday, but coach Forde always knew his team would be up against it with the dramatic way that game in Cairns unfolded.
With the Kings unhappy with the way the game was officiated which ended up with coach Chase Buford ejected late in the game after disputing a flop call against Kouat Noi that the NBL later revealed as the wrong decision, there was a chance Sunday’s game would be called differently.
As a result, the Taipans high pressure defence was getting called tight right throughout the game on Sunday and at one point the Kings had attempted 22 free-throws to just 11 from the Snakes.
That was just one source of frustration for Forde post-match.
The other was that with his team fighting so hard even without key players and with a shorter rotation with really only Sam Waardenburg, DJ Hogg, Lat Mayen, Ben Ayre, McCall, Bul Kuol and Jonah Antonio playing significant minutes, that they just ran out of gas.
With the Kings having had nine days from the end of the regular season to the start of the semi finals, the Taipans had to play the games against the JackJumpers and Wildcats in that time.
So by Sunday, the Taipans had played five games from the previous Thursday and it clearly took its toll.
Despite the reflections on all of that, Forde was rightfully named Coach of the Year and he deserves to be proud of how competitive a team he oversaw all season long despite what they had to battle through.
“A lot of that is skewed because they 17 foul shots in the first half so that’s bang for your buck if you’ve ever seen it,” Forde said.
“We knew what it would be like going in because this is history repeating itself and they did it last year, and got the benefit of it. We talked about it before the game about the changes that will take place after fines had been paid and everything else.
“So you flag it but that still doesn’t mean you let them off the hook when you see it coming, you’re just prepared for it. It is what it is, it’s a business right and about what’s more entertaining.
“That’s the reality and we know what we’re battling with and we don’t shy away or pretend we’re something we’re not. We know we’re a community owned club who will have to find the diamonds in the rough and play our style, and not always get the benefit of things.”
UNFINISHED BUSINESS JUST ONE FACTOR IN PINDER’S DECISION
Keanu Pinder will have a sour taste in his mouth this entire off-season having not made it back on the court during the NBL finals and that could factor in his decision in wanting to return with the Cairns Taipans, but it’s just one consideration.
What a three-year ride already it’s been in the NBL for Pinder. He started off in Adelaide as a big man seen as being supremely talented with great athleticism for his size and a decent outside shot.
Well, things never clicked and then coach Conner Henry struggled to find a role for him and to have confidence in him to be able to go out and do what was asked of him.
It’s fair to say it was a mutually agreed decision from both Pinder and the 36ers to part company at end of that 2020/21 season.
That’s when Adam Forde came calling to Pinder fresh off being appointed coach of the Taipans. The two had already previously worked together in underage state programs in Western Australia so that connection was there.
Forde was then prepared to back in Pinder to play a key role on his team and really, build around him with him being a focal point while giving him the confidence that he could be a genuine star in the league.
The rest is history. Pinder has gone back-to-back in winning Most Improved Player awards turning himself into a quality player last season, and then one of the very best players in the NBL this season.
Had he not missed nine of the last 11 games of the season through injury, he would have been genuinely a candidate for the All-First Team and in the MVP discussion, that’s how good he was.
Pinder returned for two games from an ankle injury but against the South East Melbourne Phoenix on January 25 copped a stray elbow from Dane Pineau and hasn’t been able to play since.
He suffered a fractured orbital socket and was bed ridden unable to let any light into his eye for some time, but this past weekend he was hounding coach Forde to let him play against the Kings.
Common sense prevailed and Pinder wasn’t allowed back on the court, but had the Taipans reached the Championship Series and with almost two weeks until they are to start, he would have been right to go.
That’s why he was so frustrated to have missed the chance to try and help Cairns win a championship this season, but now offers will come thick and fast for him.
His two-year deal with the Snakes is over and given any club in the league could legitimately build around him, there’ll be no shortage of offers coming his way. On top of that, big money European and Asian clubs would love to secure his services too.
It’s going to be the biggest off-season of Pinder’s career because this could very well be the biggest contract he ever signs and it could be life changing.
So he has a lot to weigh up. There’s that love and appreciation he has for coach Forde and the Taipans for helping him reach his potential. There’s also the unfinished business to try and help them win that first NBL championship.
Pinder has to weigh that up against also doing what’s best for his future both in terms of basketball and life. Right now, he will get over the frustration of missing out on getting back on the court then will focus on his big decision.
“Honestly not being out there hurt more than I thought it would because I was very close to coming back,” Pinder said.
“I felt like if we had won this game I would have been able to come back to play the Grand Final so I was really looking forward to that, and I was ready for that.
“I wanted to play the last game honestly but they didn’t let me obviously so it’s all good. I’m very upset about it and I’m just going to deal with it in my own time I’ll be alright.
“Something you will always think about is where you feel most comfortable and play your best basketball,” Pinder added.
“I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m not playing my best basketball and stuck in a pigeon hole as just another piece of the puzzle.
“I would rather be in a place where I can be the man and play the best basketball I can so I can reach my goals in life. So obviously it’s going to play a factor in the decision and we’ll see how things go.”
