NZ Breakers v Sydney Kings: NBL boss on Parker Jackson ...

NBL chief executive David Stevenson is all for Parker Jackson-Cartwright giving NBL commentator Derek Rucker a spray after the import guard led the NZ Breakers to the next round of the playoffs on Wednesday night.

Jackson-Cartwright scored 34 points in the Breakers’ 83-76 win over the Sydney Kings in enemy territory and, after celebrating the win when the final buzzer sounded, he made his way to the commentary table to give Rucker a piece of his mind.

It appeared to have been in response to Rucker, a former NBL MVP who now operates as a pundit, ranking Jackson-Cartwright as only the seventh-best player in the NBL this season. Jackson-Cartwright was among the league leaders in points, assists and steals this season and was one of three finalists for the MVP award. Jackson-Cartwright was ranked below Jo Lual-Acuil (Melbourne), Mitch Creek (SouthEast Melbourne Phoenix), Jaylen Adams (Sydney), Chris Goulding (Melbourne), injured Breakers teammate Anthony Lamb and Bryce Cotton (Perth).

Speaking to the Herald about Jackson-Cartwright’s decision to give Rucker a spray on Wednesday night, Stevenson praised the Breakers guard.

“I absolutely loved it,” Stevenson said.

“One, it just showed the passion of finals basketball; that players and commentators are giving their heart and soul to the game, and the level of intensity always rises in finals. And two, I love the fact that Parker’s a passionate guy. He’s obviously had an incredible season, he was a finalist for MVP and was obviously outstanding last night with 34 [points], six [assists] and five [rebounds]. An incredible player, but he plays with that passion in those opinions. We love that and we want to see more of that.

“But also Derek Rucker, he’s got incredible credibility in our league, is very thoughtful in his opinions, he’s passionate and he’s also wanting to progress the sport. I loved seeing the fact that they had differences of opinions and in the heat of the moment that came through. They’ve both been doing media this morning and there’s no ongoing bad blood, but that theatre and passion is exactly what we expect in finals.”

Rucker took the exchange in his stride and said during his post-game wrap that it was the kind of fire he liked to see in a player.

“I don’t mind when a player comes at me. That’s what it’s about. You want to see that fire. I don’t want to see passive, timid players. Respect to PJC, he got it done, and when you win you grin and you stick your chest out and you’re a boss.”

The Breakers’ win over the Kings saw them move on to a do-or-die playoff game against the Illawarra Hawks on Monday night in Wollongong, where the winner will progress into a semifinal series against regular season leaders Melbourne United.

It took an impressive second-half comeback by the New Zealand side, who turned around a nine-point deficit in the third quarter to go into the final period level with the Kings and kicked on to blow them away on their own court. What made the win more impressive was that Next Star Mantas Rubstavicius fouled out early in the third quarter and Zylan Cheatham was limited in the second half after suffering an ankle injury just before halftime.

Speaking after the game, Breakers coach Mody Maor said Rucker poked the bear with his ranking of Jackson-Cartwright.

“Parker is Parker, man, he doesn’t really change. He’s the same all the time. But I am grateful for Derek and the way he ranked the players. I think Parker had something to prove,” Maor said.

“I don’t think he played so good, so we think we need to poke the bear again and see what we can get the next one.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.