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Game Thread Utah Jazz vs New Zealand Breakers - Oct 4th 7:00 PM (MT) (Preseason)

Added to Calendar: 10-04-24

Re-post, as per request.

New Zealand Breakers plays in the Australian NBL. The team is coached by the Finnish former all-time-great player Petteri Koponen (former team-mate of Lauri in the Finnish national team).

NZB is not the most skilled team, not by NBA or even by NBL standards. The team has this season however been doing well in the first matches of the season (extremely well actually, considering they were not given a farts chance in a sand-storm this season). Koponen wants NZB to play similar high-intensity game as he got used to with the Finnish national team (which also was/is not very skilled); on offense the players and the ball moves constantly, on defense the pressure on the ball-handler is nearly suicidal. The team is apparently physically in very good shape, and they can keep on running until doomsday. Depending on how stiff the legs of the Jazz players are from the training-camp, the Jazz guards especially might get a full run for the money.

For the three matches vs the NBA teams, NZB has hired the gargantuan giant Tacko Fall. Tacko Fall is one of the humans who can dunk without jumping. He fits the NZB mold in the sense that he is not very skilled, but he has never been known as much of a runner; how he will be integrated to the team for these three matches is surely a question mark. Tacko Fall has spent the past couple seasons in China, but he was with the Cleveland organization in 2021-2022, so at least Lauri and Sexton should recognise him.
 
JimLes said:
Is this like how Kansas City is actually in Missouri?
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NBL has nine teams from Australia, plus NZB from New Zealand. Apart from the distance (while New Zealand is technically a neighbour of Australia, they are not exactly adjacent to each other), it is something you see in some sports in Europe (where you can accidently cross the border from one country to another and then on to a third one, if you happen to be a bit absentminded during your afternoon stroll). That is, a sports has not that many players in their own country, so they slap together one team, and applies to join a league in another country.
 
Swuul said:
NBL has nine teams from Australia, plus NZB from New Zealand. Apart from the distance (while New Zealand is technically a neighbour of Australia, they are not exactly adjacent to each other), it is something you see in some sports in Europe (where you can accidently cross the border from one country to another and then on to a third one, if you happen to be a bit absentminded during your afternoon stroll). That is, a sports has not that many players in their own country, so they slap together one team, and applies to join a league in another country.
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I would assume the Australians are no strangers to fairly hefty distances without including neighboring countries
 
Can't wait!

Not seeing a time in the OP though, hopefully I will be able to watch.

Sent from my OPD2203 using Tapatalk
 
fishonjazz said:
Can't wait!

Not seeing a time in the OP though, hopefully I will be able to watch.

Sent from my OPD2203 using Tapatalk
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I added it. Hopefully its right

Picked it from Jazz twitter, but NBA.com says 4 AM EET which converts to 8 PM MT but summertime conversions make stuff fishy atm.
 
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