New coach Petteri Koponen can barely hide his relief, after steering NZ Breakers to victory — his first at the helm of a professional team — in their Australian NBL season opener.
One of Finland's most respected international players, Koponen is making the transition to a career on the sidelines with a Breakers roster featuring just two holdovers from the team that fell one game short of last season's semifinals.
After a winless pre-season, few held much hope for them against Brisbane Bullets, who had emerged unbeaten from the NBL Blitz, but even without suspended centre Freddie Gillespie, the Auckland club surprised many — including their coach perhaps — with a 91-87 victory at Perth.
The Kiwi forward scored a career-high 22 points in the win. (Source: TVNZ)
"I think the most important thing from this win is the guys showed themselves they can win in this league," observed Koponen. "We don't have to be scared any more in the last quarter — they can handle the business end.
"We needed a win, it was a good way to start and we keep improving."
The Breakers had blown final-quarter leads against Perth Wildcats and Sydney Kings at the Blitz, while falling short with a late rally against Adelaide 36ers. They very nearly repeated the sins of the pre-season against the Bullets, running up a 26-point advantage in the third quarter, before allowing their rivals to close within two in the dying seconds.
"This is something we need to learn and get better, how to keep our poise and don't make stupid mistakes," said Koponen. "Don't give the gift with turnovers and, when we are up like this, how to control the game.
"It's a new team, we are learning, getting to know each other and how we want to play. Next time, I hope we can play 40 minutes solid."
Despite their relative short time together, these Breakers played above the sum of their parts for most of the contest, combining to create shots, which they knocked down at a way-too-hot-to-maintain rate over the first two quarters in particular.
They shot 9/21 from the three-point arc for the game, but connected on just 1/7 after halftime, as their shooters cooled off.
"I've seen that we are getting better, step by step, at practice and the last games also, but today, everything clicked," said Koponen. "For 30 minutes, we were really good, we knew how to play and execute.
"That's a great first step, but there's a lot of room to improve. The biggest quality with this team is they bring the work every day."
Without Gillespie, expected to be the defensive anchor, Koponen was forced to use young Kiwi Sam Mennenga against taller Tall Blacks teammate Tyrel Harrison in the post, but that match-up created its own advantages for the Breakers.
"Different style of play," reflected Mennenga, who hit that third-quarter three to restore a 20-point buffer into the final period.
"He's sitting in the drop and I'm a shooting big, so for me, there was an emphasis on being able to knock that three down and opening up the floor for [American guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright], so he can get down the lane and do what he needs to do.
"Taking pride in that one-on-one match in the post... I have the utmost respect for him and his post game, but we did a great job on that, mixing in double [teams] on the offensive end and pulling him out of the paint [on defence]. It was my kind of match-up.
"I was excited to get out there with the guys and prove a lot of the critics wrong. The pre-season shows certain stuff, but it doesn't show everything."
Mennenga — who spent his ANBL rookie season with Cairns Taipans, before returning home to Auckland's North Shore with the Breakers — responded to the challenge with a career-high 22 points, forcing the defence to respect his long-range ability and taking the ball to the basket for highlight-reel dunks.
Next Sunday, they host South East Melbourne Phoenix at Auckland's Spark Arena in their first home game of the new season.
Watch all of the New Zealand Breakers games in the 2024/2025 season live and free on TVNZ+
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