Maor: Phoenix Loss was "Worst Case Scenario"

It took a hot South East Melbourne to stop the New Zealand Breakers’ three game winning streak. The Phoenix didn’t just defeat the Breakers though, they dismantled them emphatically.

The Breakers have formed the stingiest defence in NBL23 so far, but the Phoenix found the ball dropping with ease as they exploded to score 58 points in the first half alone.

It’s ironic that in South East Melbourne’s first game with a full roster that the Breakers would head into the game so depleted. Daniel Fotu was a late out due to illness, while Barry Brown failed his gameday fitness test with captain Tom Abercrombie still sidelined. A number of members through the Breakers’ squad are also still recovering from the same illness that struck down Fotu.

Breakers head coach Mody Maor is making no excuses for the 22-point loss.

“You come into a game like this and you know there can be a few different scenarios. This is our third game in five days, we know our roster is short. All those excuses get stacked in but you don’t know how it’s going to play out,” Maor said post-game.

“For it to play out like this you need to have a bad day and your opponents need to have a good day. South East is obviously a very talented team. They came out and played the right way, made their shots ... this was a worst case scenario.

“We weren’t there from an intensity and competitive level, they made shots and got away from us, never really found it back in. I can’t fault my guys for trying. They were never hanging their heads, never stopped doing what they could.

“It’s on us to make everything tough and contested and it’s not what we did today, but it’s what we’ll do next time.

“We’re better than this. We know we’re better than this. We’ll learn from this and we’ll come back stronger in three days.”

Next Star Rayan Rupert held down the starting role he’s been so successful in during the Breakers’ strong form, but he struggled to impact the game during his 23 minutes on the floor.

He finished with four points on 1/5 shooting, one rebound and two assists.

Rupert, like Maor, is now firmly focused on the Breakers’ upcoming game with Cairns.

“Today we didn’t play very well,” Rupert said. “The travel is not an excuse, and we’ll just focus on the next game.

“We didn’t play with the same intensity [as recent games], but it’s no excuse. We have to be better.”

New Zealand travel to take on Cairns on Sunday afternoon, live from 2pm AEDT.