Barry Brown Jr played through broken hand to guide NZ Breakers into NBL grand final

Star Breakers guard Barry Brown Jr played through a broken bone in his hand to deliver the series-changing turn that guided the Kiwi club to their sixth NBL grand final.

Brown picked up a left-hand injury late in the regular season that saw him sit out the finale in Brisbane, but return for the best-of-three semifinal series against the Tasmania JackJumpers that the Breakers wrapped up 2-1 with Sunday’s 92-77 victory in front of 6500 fans at Spark Arena.

The 26-year-old Florida guard was sensational in Sunday’s decider, pouring in a season-high 32 points in just under 26 minutes off the bench, making 10 of his 15 shots, swishing both attempts from beyond the arc, including a late pullup triple that put the contest on ice, and going a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line.

Just for good measure, the dynamic guard, named the league’s best sixth man at the end-of-season awards, added 4 rebounds and 3 steals and was +24 in plus/minus as the Breakers won through to contest a best-of-five grand final against defending champions the Sydney Kings.

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But Brown also played key roles in the first two games of the series – an 88-68 Breakers victory in the opener, and an 89-78 defeat in Hobart – while clearly being hampered by the fractured hand suffered in the penultimate regular season game against the Illawarra Hawks.

Breakers coach Mody Maor told Stuff on Tuesday that Brown had had to play through the pain in the first two games of the series (he scored 11 points in 14 minutes in the opener and also led his team in game 2 with 19 points in 25 minutes off the bench) when he was still bothered by the fracture.

“He had a small fracture in his hand,” Maor confirmed. “He played the first game almost incapable of dribbling with his left [hand], and as the series progressed every day he got better and better, and he finished the series 100%.”

Maor stopped short of hailing Brown’s bravery, but did concede it was the sort of injury not all imports played through in these type of situations.

“It’s the kind of injury you can play with,” said the Breakers coach. “Basketball players play with this injury all the time. But to tell you everybody would … that’s not the case. There is a level of toughness there that this requires, for sure.”

Asked what his refusal to sit out a game said about his leading scorer and star import, who has also bought heavily into his sixth-man role this year, Maor was again careful with his response.

“It says what it says about all our guys all the time, and specifically about him: these guys really care. They care about each other, they care about the team, they care about winning, and they do everything they can, including playing through pain.”

The Breakers have recruited brilliantly this year and their choice of three young, team-first imports who are all outstanding players in their own right had been a key factor in that. But Maor told Stuff he had gotten exactly the players he knew he would when he signed Brown, Jarrell Brantley and Dererk Pardon.

“This is the result of a very tedious 10 years of my life, studying the market, budding players, taking the time to know exactly who I want, and asking the right questions,” he said. “Does it mean it’s a science and you 100% will get it right? No. But we left as little to chance as possible in this aspect.

“It’s very important to me thre sort of people we brought in.”

Maor said Brown would be fully fit for the grand final which does not tip off until Friday week (March 3) in Sydney because of the Fiba international window this week.

“He was 100% healthy in game 3. He will still play with the guard on, but you could see what happens when he is healthy – he was going left, he was aggressive to the rim, getting fouled, and not avoiding contact.”

And Maor expanded on a line from skipper Tom Abercrombie post-game that Brown had been challenged to be more aggressive in the decider against the JackJumpers.

“We had a real look in the mirror after game 2 and spoke about areas where we didn’t play the way we wanted. Part of that is Barry has the problem that talented players have – he can do a lot of everything. Our goal as a team is to get you to do what you do best, and his ability to get to the rim and to the free-throw line is unique, and he needs to stay on the attack in this space.”

The Breakers have had a couple of days’ off since Sunday’s semifinal clincher, and return to practice on Wednesday to launch preparations for Sydney.