The SkyCity New Zealand Breakers, based in Auckland, warming up before a Feb. 7 game against the Townsville Crocodiles on the north coast of Queensland, Australia. The Breakers are the only team in Australia’s National Basketball League not from Australia.”
Not the Knicks
By SCOTT CACCIOLA
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — The New Zealand Breakers are the most unconventional team in Australia’s National Basketball League. For starters, they are the only team in the league that is not from Australia. It is also worth noting that they practice in a converted warehouse, where they have two full-length courts, a film room, offices for staff and several well-appointed vending machines.
The owners are not particularly interested in making money off the team, and its chief executive officer — who was promoted after a successful stint as general manager — says that he knows almost nothing about basketball. But the Breakers, with their homegrown roster and homespun charm, know how to win.
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“Try to be disruptive,” Dean Vickerman, the team’s second-year coach, told his players at a recent practice, ahead of a road game against the Townsville Crocodiles. “They’re trying to drive the lane, and you’re trying to put doubt in their minds and buy some time for the next guy to get back.”
Vickerman, 43, a convivial Australian whom everyone calls Deano, was harping on one of his favorite subjects — teamwork — and paused just long enough to blow his whistle. “Go!”
The Breakers have won three of the league’s past four championships, a stretch of dominance that was unthinkable when they were founded in 2003. Mika Vukona, a 32-year-old forward who has been with the Breakers since their inception, recalled how players were tasked with handing out wads of tickets to random Aucklanders.
“And they’d be like, ‘No, we don’t want any! Go away!’ ” he said.
After a disappointing season a year ago — the team’s best player was off trying to make more money in Slovenia, and Vickerman was digging for chemistry — the Breakers have already secured a playoff spot with a 19-8 record entering their regular-season finale Sunday against the Cairns Taipans.
The Breakers, who are sponsored by a casino, lean on the fundamentals: passing to the open man, running the floor, taking good shots. Cedric Jackson, 28, one of three Americans on the roster and the league’s most valuable player in 2013, returned from Europe this season to cement his celebrity status.
“I’m on a billboard,” he said, no small feat given the country’s all-consuming passion for rugby and cricket.
The team averages 5,342 fans for home games at Vector Arena, and while most appreciate basketball, some are still lured by the prospect of watching a team from New Zealand wallop opponents from across the Tasman Sea. For Kiwis, there are few things more enjoyable than beating Australians at sports, even if that sport is basketball.
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By midafternoon, Room 1115 at the hotel was the center of activity. Mark Overington, the team physiotherapist, had set up a table to tape ankles and knees. The room also served as the team’s snack station, with an assortment of bread, grapes, peanut butter and bottles of liquid breakfast strewn across a table.
“Where’s it been sore?” Overington asked Jackson, who flexed his left foot.
“Just when I plant,” Jackson said.
The local news was on the TV, and the top stories were about the prime minister’s being under duress, a dismembered body that was found in a river and a visit by the country’s self-described sausage king.
“What the hell is going on in Australia?” Webster asked no one in particular.
On their way to Townsville RSL Stadium, Vickerman and Henare shared their ritual of pregame lattes. The Breakers were heavily favored, and Vickerman had no reason to doubt their preparation — until they took the court.
The game was a disaster for the Breakers, who shot 39 percent from the field and lost, 79-71. Brian Conklin, a forward for the Crocodiles and a former standout at St. Louis University, said it was the best his team had played all season.
Vickerman was morose during his news conference.
“The harder we tried,” he said, “the more we turned the ball over.”
The Breakers wound up carrying a two-game losing streak into their game last Sunday against Perth, and they were down by 1 point in double overtime with time about to expire when Jackson launched a shot from midcourt. Swish! His teammates mobbed him. Days later, the players were still buzzing.
“That game was a cracker,” Abercrombie said.
It was the sort of shot that can save a season, and for a team accustomed to doing things its way, it felt just right.
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