A few months back Sydney Kings coach Chase Buford compared the New Zealand Breakers to the All Blacks. And he was not referring to their outstanding record as a dominant force in their sport.

Buford made the comment after a December 8 NBL matchup at Spark Arena, won 88-81 by the Kings, in which the Breakers were on the wrong side of a 21-8 foul count that had the Sydney coach complaining it should have been even more lop-sided.

“It felt like we were playing the All Blacks out there tonight, [with] the physicality,” he said. “I know the foul count was heavily slanted one way, but it could have been double that. They’re grabbing, holding every single time.”

Breakers coach Mody Maor has had plenty of time to stew on that accusation (at the time he brushed it off as “a narrative I’m not playing into”), and after his team on Sunday in Auckland won through to an NBL grand final matchup against the defending champion Kings that will tip off on March 3 in Sydney he was happy to offer a belated retort.

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“I was really disappointed with what I said in the press conference after that, because any time somebody compares you to the All Blacks it’s the biggest badge of honour there can be. So, yeah, if we can go and play like the All Blacks … humbling.”

If the Breakers are honest, it’s the grand final they really wanted against a Sydney outfit who have become the standard-setters of the modern NBL, and Maor’s comments will only start the ball rolling on some tasty trash-talk that’s bound to unfold with a record 12-day gap until the opening game of the best-of-five series.

That interlude is created by the Fiba international window that’s in place this week, meaning the grand final will not get under way until Friday, March 3, at Quodos Bank Arena in Sydney.

Tasmania coach Scott Roth admitted after his team were dispatched 92-77 in Sunday’s semifinal decider at Spark Arena it was the final the league deserved. “The Breakers have had quite the two years and to come back in the fashion they have and finally get to play at home is a wonderful thing for the league and for New Zealand in general.

“The two best teams are in the finals – they’ve been the two best teams all year.”

Maor said it was a grand final matchup that everyone should be excited by.

“There’s nothing in the world that I’m looking forward to more,” he said. “They’re the defending champs, the best team in the league. This is what finals are supposed to be: you get to play against the best and see what you got. I’m looking forward to it a lot.”

The Breakers’ turnaround in 2022-23 has been nothing short of remarkable, after they went 5-23 the season before in a gruelling campaign spent entirely in Australia. That resulted in a cleanout that saw Maor brought in to replace his good friend Dan Shamir as head coach, and a new roster built around survivors Tom Abercrombie, Rob Loe and Will McDowell-White.

But Maor played down the backdrop of the two years of Covid-enforced challenges that pushed the club to the limit when it came to the first level-playing-field campaign since 2019-20.

”You don’t drag in what happened before into what happens now.” he said. “It’s the beautiful thing about basketball – every season is a new book; it’s not a new chapter. We knew exactly what kind of people we wanted in the building, and that’s where it started.

“The second thing we knew was how we wanted to play, and we brought in people that fit what we wanted to do on defence and who we wanted to be as an organisation and as a team. Those were the first steps and the main ones.”

Still, it’s been an outstanding effort for the Breakers to, first, go 18-10 through the regular season for the No 2 spot, and then negotiate a tough series against the JackJumpers that required a trademark strong defensive effort, and a brilliant display of shotmaking from Barry Brown Jr on Sunday.

Now both teams have the best part of two weeks to heal bodies and firm plans for each other after the regular season matchups went 2-1 in the Kings’ favour, with the road team winning all three contests.

”It’s a weird thing,” said Maor when asked if the interlude was a good thing. “It’s the first time I’ve seen playoffs that have a big break in between. We’ll make the most of the time to prepare, practice, get healthy and get ready.”

Maor also said he would leave Tall Blacks availability up to his players. Pero Cameron’s national side meet Saudi Arabia in Christchurch on Friday and Lebanon in Wellington next Monday in the last of their World Cup qualifiers, with their place at the global event already secured.

It is unlikely any of the main rotation Breakers will elect to line up.

“My opinion about the Tall Blacks is always 100% the same,” said Maor. “Representing your country is the utmost honour. Any player that feels this is the right time for him to play for the Tall Blacks, it’s fine by me. The Tall Blacks have put themselves in a great situation, they have a deep roster, so either way, if they go or stay, I’m happy.”

NBL Grand Final: Sydney Kings v NZ Breakers (NZT): Game 1: Friday March 3, Qudos Bank Arena, 9:30pm. Game 2: Sunday March 5, Spark Arena, 6pm. Game 3: Friday March 10, Qudos Bank Arena, 9:30pm. Game 4 (if required): Sunday March 12, Spark Arena, 6pm. Game 5 (if req): Wednesday March 15, Qudos Bank Arena, 9:30pm.