For the first time in five seasons, the New Zealand Breakers are in the NBL playoffs.

In beating Melbourne United 80-74 at Spark Arena on Saturday night, the Breakers ensured their spot in the top
six – with a top-two finish still a chance.

For the first time, the NBL has a play-in playoff tournament. The top two teams automatically qualify for the semifinals, while the teams that finish from third to sixth face off to determine the other two semifinal sides.

Third plays fourth and fifth plays sixth in the first round of the play-in tournament, with the winner of three v four playing the second seed in the semifinals.

The loser of three v four then has to play another play-in game, taking on the winner of five v six to determine who gets the fourth semifinal spot and plays the top seed.

As a result, a top-two finish is important, but so is finishing in the top four and potentially having one fewer game to play in a playoff run – or another life in case of a first-up loss.

The Breakers’ win on Saturday was their 16th of the season – more than twice the games the club won last season – and head coach Mody Maor explained what that meant to the team.

“Sixteen wins has been up on my board for a very long time. That was my number one goal. I’m happy we accomplished it, we’re on to the next one now.”

The Breakers last made the playoffs in the 2017-18 season, where they were ousted in the semifinals by Melbourne.

What made the occasion more meaningful for the Kiwi team was to be able to reach that milestone on their home court, particularly after the recent floods around Auckland.

“My main goal was to make the playoffs. The way for us to achieve it, for me, was to play in a way that would gain the trust of the community here; that they would see us play and something in how we do things would resonate with the way Kiwis do things,” Maor said.

“[With] 6000 people coming to the game, in these circumstances, for this occasion of making it to the playoffs, it means that all those people see something in the Breakers that resonates with them. I couldn’t be happier or prouder.”

The Breakers got off to a characteristically slow start against Melbourne. While their defence limited Melbourne to 19 points in the first quarter, the Breakers struggled to score, with only 10 points in the opening 10 minutes.

It was a second-quarter surge from veteran big man Rob Loe that kicked the team’s offence into gear. Loe scored eight straight points for the Breakers midway through the quarter to keep his side in the game, before the more usual suspects began to find their way into the game.

The Breakers closed out the first half trailing by just three points, and went back and forth with visitors throughout the third period, before putting their foot down and running away with the game in the final period.

As he has done during the team’s recent stretch, import forward Jarrell Brantley put his mark on the game with 18 points, while Loe’s 15 off the bench all came when the team needed them most.

“Playing Melbourne United is tough,” Maor said.

“We stayed the course; we defended well throughout the whole game, but we couldn’t make a shot. It was just a matter of time before Rob Loe decided to make a few and break the game open. That run, it always comes from defence for us. We had a stretch there with 10 stops in a row, which usually breaks games open.”

Third on the ladder, the Breakers will this week play their final regular-season games on the road against Illawarra and Brisbane – the two bottom-placed teams – continuing to hunt for a spot in the top two.