72-Hour Lockdown for Sky Sport Breakers as Friday's Opener Looms

Final preparations for the Sky Sport Breakers' opening game of the NBL21 season are now underway with the team essentially on a 72-hour lockdown before tip-off against the 36ers in Adelaide on Friday night.
 
The Breakers are embracing the NBL's COVID protocols before games, which are in place with the primary focus of providing a safe environment for teams and fans during the season in Australia.
 
Significantly for the Breakers, now there is less than 72 hours before the game, players, staff and family can only leave their Adelaide hotel for a maximum of one hour a day.
 
Training is exempt from that one-hour window, but individuals can only venture out for longer than an hour if it is an activity that has been approved by the NBL.
 
Head Coach Dan Shamir dismisses any notion the COVID protocols are a hard adjustment for the players.
 
"In my personal vocabulary, I don't use the word 'hard' too much," he says from the team's Adelaide hotel.
 
"The COVID protocols, being away from home, all these things require adjustment and present challenges to all of us, however, we have great conditions to prepare."
 
Shamir, who has spent the best part of two decades coaching around the globe, is marvelling at the brand-new basketball facilities afforded to the Breakers in Adelaide to train in, describing them 'as some of the best in the world.'
 
A further bonus to the team's build-up is that they arrived on Monday night and, by the time the game tips off Friday, the Breakers will have adjusted to the time zone.
 
This is a lot different from the last time they played the 36ers in Adelaide 13 months ago.
 
"If we are talking about a normal season, travel from New Zealand to Adelaide happens a day before the game and usually we don't practice in the city beforehand," says Shamir.
 
"It is a luxury getting to Adelaide in advance; it is one of the advantages of this season; we don't have to travel a lot, and we can train in this amazing facility to prepare for the game.  We have no reason to complain about our pre-season; we've had five and a half weeks in Australia before game one."

The Breakers now have a better idea of their next month of games with the NBL releasing further details of the draw, as the league continues to operate on a rolling schedule due to COVID complications.
 
There will now be back-to-back games against the 36ers, with Friday's January 22nd opener followed up by a second against Adelaide next Wednesday, January 27th.
 
The team then immediately boards a flight to Perth to prepare for a game against their arch-rivals and defending champions next Sunday, January 31st.
 
That trip will be a far cry from the regular seven hours plus Auckland to Perth flight, and the complications of overseas travel.
 
However, in what best illustrates the vast size of Australia, the domestic flight time from Adelaide to Perth is still three and a quarter hours.
 
Tall Blacks Corey Webster and Rob Loe remain the only injury concerns for the Breakers ahead of the season opener.
 
Webster will not play against the 36ers as he rehabilitates from a hand injury but Loe is recovering fast from his knee problem and still could play Friday night if he passes a fitness test.

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