Abercrombie Plays Record Breaking 355th Game for Breakers Tonight

Written for nbl.com.au by Tom Hersz

Some things become synonymous with others over a period of time. That is definitely true of the New Zealand Breakers and Tom Abercrombie.

Tonight, Abercrombie will play his 355^th game for the Breakers when they face Melbourne United. That will be one more than the 354 games Mika Vukona played for the club, making Abercrombie their all-time games played leader.

Abercrombie, now 33 years old, joined the Breakers as a development player for the 2008-09 season. The following year he became a fully contracted player and has been a major part of that club’s fabric ever since.

Along the way, he’s captured four championships, a Grand Final MVP, an All-NBL first team and an All-NBL third team selection, and become a member of the exclusive 50-40-90 last year; a club which only includes two members in Abercrombie and Daniel Kickert.

Abercrombie is the Breakers all-time leading scorer and recently became the club leader in three-pointers made, passing Kirk Penney – he needs just two more for 500 in his career.

He also eclipsed 4,000 career points last Friday and needs just three more blocked shots to become the club leader in blocks as well.

But Abercrombie is not one for statistics.

“I guess some people get caught up or like to follow stats and things like that,” he told media this week.

“I’ve always been one to just go out there and do my job and not worry about all that stuff; it kind of just ticks away in the background as obviously games played have as well. Been ticking away for a while, so it is what it is.”

Abercrombie remembers “absolutely nothing” of his 100^th, 200^th or 300^th games. He does remember his first game though.

“In terms of games that I really remember, I remember the first one,” he recalled.

“My very first game as a development player, I think we played Adelaide. I got in really late in the game. I remember my first bucket was a corner three-ball in the left hand corner at the North Shore Events Centre where I grew up playing.

“My second bucket was a little alley-oop play, which I think Bouch [Dillon Boucher] threw me a nice pass. So a three pointer and an alley-oop was a pretty nice way to start my career.”

Abercrombie was a major contributor in all four of the Breakers championship runs. His trademark athleticism, defence, high IQ and team-first approach has been apparent for over a decade and to say he personifies the Breakers spirit would be an understatement.

Obviously, some of his fondest memories as a Breaker were winning each of those titles. This milestone gave him a chance to reflect on the close out games from each one, and what they each meant to him and the club at the time.

The first one, in 2011, helped put the club on the map.

“The first championship was obviously the first one we ever won as a club,” explained Abercrombie.

“It was the first time a New Zealand team had won an Australasian championship, so there was a whole bunch of excitement around it, around New Zealand. It was like nothing anyone had ever seen in basketball circles before.

“We beat Cairns, I won Finals MVP for that series; we had a parade down Queen St. There were a lot of firsts for a New Zealand basketball team.”

The second title the following year made the Breakers one of the hottest tickets in town. It legitimised their place in the Australian NBL and was also the start of a rivalry that became pretty special.

“Second championship, I believe we won at Spark Arena and that was sort of that first time the Breakers had taken that step up,” he said.

“I guess that kind of came on the back of the year before and all the popularity and excitement that that team had brought. We were able to carry that over to a bigger arena at Spark and it felt like we were pretty big time by then.

“We played in front of a full house at Spark Arena, I think it was 9,500 people and that place was absolutely going off. I believe we beat Perth in that game and that was a pretty special one.”

The next year, the Breakers won it all for a third straight season, against Perth once more. This time, they closed it out on the road and Abercrombie recalls how different that was, but also how special it felt.

“Third championship was in Perth.  Obviously, us and Perth had a pretty good rivalry going at that stage and it was nice to win them in different ways, ” he described.

“You know, we won the first one at North Shore, the second one at Spark and then we were able to go over and win in Perth at RAC Arena in front of thirteen, fourteen thousand Perth fans.

“And the thing that stuck out for me with that game was it was so loud the whole time, just a see of red. And we won the championship and that red sea just kind of parted and you saw all these Breakers fans kind of come down to the court.

“And it didn’t feel like there was anyone there, but by the time the game had finished there was a thousand, two thousand New Zealand supporters all come down to the court which was a pretty good feeling.”

When Andrej Lemanis moved on from the Breakers after that three-peat, the team also lost Cedric Jackson to Europe and Dillon Boucher who retired. They struggled in the 2013-14 season, finishing seventh.

But they turned it around the next season, bringing Jackson back and making it back to the Grand Final, once again defeating Cairns on an Ekene Ibekwe buzzer-beater.

“Yeah, the fourth championship everyone remembers for E-Beks’ fadeaway jumper, which was an unbelievable way to win,” Abercrombie explained.

“To win it on the buzzer with a shot like that, was, as we saw, absolute scenes. But it wasn’t quite how we drew up the play. It was a play that worked out really well, but E was supposed to curl and go to the basket. But he kind of just floated out towards the three-point line and got the ball and faded away.

“Hey, if you make the shot nothing matters in the end, so that was a pretty cool way to remember the fourth one.”

Of course, ask Abercrombie about his favourite of those four titles and he was pretty quick to respond.

“My favourite was probably the first one,” he said.

“The first one’s always special. Like I said it was so special for New Zealand to finally win an Australasian comp. It had never been done before and that just took the Breakers and basketball in New Zealand to another level. So it was special and memorable for a lot of reasons.”

There have been numerous memorable moments in the career of Tom Abercrombie.

Just two years ago, he dunked on Jaren Jackson Jr. from the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBLxNBA games, shocking the world and especially Jackson in the process.

He’s hit numerous game-winners over his career, including one at the recent NBL Cup when the Breakers nearly blew a game versus Cairns, but Abercrombie bailed them out.

“Certainly that shot against Cairns in Melbourne was a pretty cool moment,” he admitted.

“Not a lot had been going our way and to have a little, brief moment of joy like that, where we all could just exhale and enjoy the moment and forget about everything else was a pretty cool feeling.”

His game has evolved over his time in a Breakers uniform. He has become an elite defender, a very reliable shooter and a great leader.

Abercrombie gave pause to reflect on what he was like when he entered the league as compared to now.

“I think my evolution as a player, that’s another one that you don’t notice it happening at the time,” he explained.

“But, I look back at myself as a 21 or 22-year-old; obviously came in as a pretty good athlete and pretty raw. Hadn’t played a huge amount of professional basketball or basketball at a really high level, so really relied on my athleticism to get things done and luckily I could jump pretty high at that stage.

“I’ve still kept most of that athleticism, but I‘d like to think I’ve become a smarter player, a better defender and a better shooter as I’ve gotten older as well.”

But he doesn’t plan on hanging up the boots just yet. With 350 games in the books, the next milestone is 400 and he’s contracted through the end of next season, so has an opportunity to get close to that mark.

Not one to chase milestones or records, this one is definitely something he aspires to; not to tick that off his list, but because he still has a passion for the game and believes he has more to give, that this team has more to achieve.

“Hopefully I’ve got a little bit left in the tank,” he joked.

“This year’s obviously been extremely challenging for numerous reasons, but a lot of unfinished business still with this team and I’m still enjoying myself playing, and hopefully we can tick off that four hundy.”

But tonight is about breaking a record. He is breaking Mika Vukona’s record of 354 games as a New Zealand Breaker, with the next most being Paul Henare at 250 games.

For Abercrombie, who hasn’t really reflected much on what this means, it was a chance to think at least about what Mika has meant to the Breakers over the years, which may help Abercrombie to codify his own place in Breakers history.

“To take the record off Mika, it’s a pretty special thing,” he admitted.

“He’s one of my favourite teammates; he’ll always be my captain. I played so many years with him for the Breakers and the Tall Blacks and a player and a person I respect more than any other guy I’ve played with.

“[I’ve] got so much admiration for what he was able to do on the court and off it. We’ve remained good friends since he’s left the club and moved over to Australia.

“He, in his career, embodied everything the Breakers was all about and that’s what I’ve really tried to take from him. He wore it all on his sleeve every time he went out there, the ultimate competitor and champion, so always a great thing to be mentioned in company with that guy.”

Now in his thirteenth season in the league, all with the Breakers, Abercrombie is still one of their most important players. Ask Dan Shamir to talk about his team captain and his face will start beaming. He describes Abercrombie as one of the ‘smartest players he’s ever coached’.

The fact that he’s been playing at an elite level for so long speaks volumes of his preparation, his resolve and of course his talent. The fact that he’s done it all with one club, just makes it all the more special. It’s a rarity in modern sport.

“Yeah, I think my longevity and how long I’ve played for the Breakers is definitely something I don’t consciously think about,” he said.

“When I first joined the club, I remember talking to Andrej Lemanis when he was the coach and he spoke to me about having the chance to be a one-club player, which doesn’t happen very often, and I was 20 years old or something at this stage and just kind of laughed and smiled at him.

“But, it’s kind of worked out that way. I’ve always prided myself on being a professional and consistent in everything that I do, and be able to adapt to different situations and the different eras that the club’s gone through over the time that I’ve been there.

“I’d like to think that I’ve been a constant, consistent factor for the team and hopefully will be for a long time to come.”

There’s no doubt that Abercrombie has meant a tremendous amount to the Breakers organisation, their staff, their coaches, his teammates and the fans during his time there.

But what have the Breakers meant to him? What does he think of when he thinks of the Breakers?

“I think of the Breakers as family; as my second family,” Abercrombie explained.

“I’ve probably spent as much time with the club and the people here as I have with my own family and all the friends, teammates and people that I’ve met along the way, they feel like family members, so it’s a club that’s extremely special to me and will be forever.

“It’s a big honour to take over from Mika as the most capped player and it’s a special place.”