Time to break the drought

New Zealand Breakers star Jonah Bolden says his team needs to regain its “physicality, resilience and consistency” after a six-game losing streak.

The Breakers were considered one of the surprise packages of the NBL25 at the start of the season, leading the table with a record of 7-3.

But a personnel change following the departure of Freddie Gillespie and the arrival of Tacko Fall saw them drop to ninth place in just a few weeks.

The positive: New Zealand are only one win behind fifth place.

“It’s a collective thing. Our resistance level kind of dissipated, our all-around physicality kind of dissipated and four-quarter endurance waned,” Bolden told The Post.

“It’s about consistency and trusting your teammates on defense. We have the biggest player in the league (Fall), he is a weapon, but it also takes physicality, resilience and consistency.”

Petteri Koponen had one of the best defensive units in the league through the first ten games, but the Breakers have conceded an average of 106 points in their six straight losses.

“It’s about getting back to who we were,” Bolden added.

“It’s a bit of adversity, a different system. I really believe that we have gotten better in every game over the last six games and that we will go into the next game positive. Nothing changes. We have to get out of this rut. It’s the middle of the season, you expect adversity, but it doesn’t feel good to end up so deep in the loss.”

New Zealand return to Spark Arena for the first time in 11 games on Friday evening to host the Sydney Kings.

One win and the Breakers stay in the race in the final. One loss and it’s back to the drawing board.

Watch the Breakers and Kings live on ESPN and TVNZ (New Zealand) from 5:30pm AEDT on Friday evening.