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Sports Watch: Breakdown on the Unbreakable Breakers

David Long watches the Kiwi basketball team’s doco on a tough last season, stuck in Australia and having to deal with the uncertainties of Covid-19.

Fly-on-the-wall sports’ documentaries are all the rage these days. Some are great, like Formula One’s Drive to Survive or Sunderland ’Til I Die and some are clearly too sanitised like the All or Nothing: All Blacks series.

The Breakers and Sky TV have got in on the act with a five-part series, Unbreakable: 154 Days in Australia, going over their tumultuous 2021 season, where the ANBL team found themselves living nomadic lives because of Covid-19.

The series gives a good insight into what the team went through over that time, which wasn’t just related to Covid, as there was also import Lamar Patterson coming in overweight and unfit, plus Corey Webster stabbing his hand, while attempting to de-seed an avocado, to name just two issues.

It’s from the latter that one of the best lines in the series comes,

with Breakers GM Simon Edwards telling coach Dan Shamir that: ‘‘there’s not many sports injuries that involve an avocado and a knife,’’ when explaining a plastic surgeon’s assessment on how long Webster could be out for.

For those that only took a passing interest in the Breakers last season, they’ll find this

riveting viewing and the club’s hardcore fans devour anything.

But during the three episodes sent out to Sports Watch, there were few exceptional behind-thescenes moments and the story is mostly told by talking heads recounting what happened.

The series will be uncomfortable viewing for Patterson, as he’s lambasted by pretty much everyone for how overweight and useless he was.

There are no scenes (in the first three episodes at least) of Shamir ripping into the team in the changing sheds or really controversial moments, and you could only ponder what was left on the cutting room floor or was off-limits to the film crew.

However, Unbreakable is still an entertaining watch, whetting the appetite ahead of the new NBL season. Part one is on Sky Sport 2 at 7.30pm tomorrow.

SPORT

en-nz

2021-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

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