New Zealand Breakers are Three-Times Champions!

The Breakers have done it - they have achieved what they set out to do this season,  become only the second team in ANBL history to win three titles in a row.

Not only did they achieve it, they achieved it in some style, shutting out the Perth Wildcats 2-0 in the Grand Finals series, something they failed to do in their previous two series. It may not have been pretty in The Jungle but when you're playing one of the NBL's best sides on their own turf, getting a win there on a big occasion is no mean feat.

For outgoing power forward, Dillon Boucher, one of the club's foundation players, it was the most fitting way to draw the curtain on a successful career. Media commitments now beckon for the highly popular Tall Black as he leaves the club - and arguably New Zealand basketball - in the best shape of its life; a club teeming with outstanding young local talent like Josh Bloxham, Tai Webster and Reuben Te Rangi.

Even with longtime head coach Andrej Lemanis set for the high-profile role of coach of the Australian Boomers, the club is in very, very good hands and has a very strong foundation to build on - a succession plan is clearly in place at the club even with its coach - 1st assistant, Dean Vickerman is set to take over the role should Lemanis answer the call from the Basketball Australia.

It is a testament to the superb management and philosophy of owners, Paul & Liz Blackwell. The Albany Pak N Save owners applied an ethos not dissimilar to the Crusaders' or many other highly successful sporting organizations around the world like Manchester United & Barcelona. At the same time, they have shunned the limelight, letting the coach and players do the talking; here is a great article about the Blackwells from 2009 - http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/basketball/2887501/NZ-Breakers-owner-about-making-a-difference.

However, critics might highlight the fact that the ANBL appears to be a troubled league, even a league in decline - it originally had 10 clubs at inception in 1979 but that number has fluctuated with the count possibly down to 7 for 2013 if the Townsville Crocs do actually fold.

Basketball as a sport has generally struggled for respectability and attention in this part of the world especially compared to the football codes and compared to the world's other basketball leagues, Australia's definitely pales in comparison when it comes to the standard of play.

Even so, winning a title three times in any competition is a difficult task - winning three times in a row almost never happens. Very few teams win a title three years in a row - Manchester United have done it twice and Lyon and Rosenberg have gone on very long championship winning streaks in their history. In basketball, the fabled Chicago Bulls (twice) and LA Lakers sides have achieved the three-peat and long gone into NBA folklore.

For the scope of their competition, this NZ Breakers side are full of rock stars and kings that deserve to be written into NBL and New Zealand sporting folklore for their achievements.

So savour the achievements now and let's aim for four-in-a-row. With most of this side intact for next season, the odds are actually rather favourable.

New Zealand Breakers are Champions!

After one of the most thrilling best-of-3 finals series ever witnessed in any sport, the New Zealand Breakers overcame a highly competitive and tough Perth Wildcats team to win their 2nd ANBL title in a row.

Undoubtedly, home ground advantage helped big time although you have to say the Breakers should have clinched the title in game 2 in Perth.

So nearly 9 years after the Breakers were first established to compete in the ANBL, they are champions not only once but twice now, and are undoubtedly the mother of all New Zealand teams competing in exclusively trans-Tasman professional sports leagues - we don't count Super Rugby here as South African teams play in that as well.

The Warriors took 16 years to win a Grand Final title and even then it was the Junior team that did it, back to back. The Wellington Phoenix have made the playoffs but don't quite look like a Grand Final winning team - perhaps to the relief of the whole Asian Football Confederation.

So hats off to the Breakers. Sure it's not the NBA or Euroleague but they did the best they could in the league they were in and as Perth showed, there is more than 1 good team in the ANBL. And give some credit to Australian and New Zealand basketball - both have stood tall in recent times against the more fancied European teams and the mighty and wealthy USA.

Furthermore, winning the championship in back to back years is always a difficult feat in any sport whatever the standard. The opposition is usually an improvement on last season and they're always up for beating the champions. Ask Barcelona too as they aim to become the first team in the Champions League era to win back-to-back titles - who knows this might be a good omen for the Catalans?

All New Zealanders should savour this result and hopefully the Breakers' domination can continue for a while yet helping to establish basketball as a sport to be reckoned with in this country. Look what the All Blacks domination did to rugby and Brazil to football.

So well done and congratulations to the SkyCity New Zealand Breakers! Double champions back to back...

And it feels good.