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Live sport on SN this weekendBreakers coach channels Blight in 'pathetic' spray
Steve Barrett, AAP • October 31st, 2026 5:30 am
Gordie Herbert slammed his NZ Breakers outfit for their 'pathetic' first-half performance | Photo: Chris Kidd/AAP
New Zealand coach Gordie Herbert has ripped shreds off his team, labelling the Breakers' first-half as "absolutely pathetic" and "ridiculous" as they nosedived to second-last spot on the NBL ladder with a 108-101 home loss to the Adelaide 36ers.
NZ fought back to dominate the third quarter, then pinched the lead several times in a seesawing final term, before finally running out of juice in Friday night's clash at Auckland's Spark Arena.
But it was a 56-44 first half that earned the wrath of 67-year-old Herbert, who has never witnessed an opening two quarters like this, in an international coaching career spanning more than three decades, including World Cup gold for Germany in 2023 and national titles in the Bundesliga (twice), France, Austria and Finland.
"I was really disappointed with our effort - the first half was pathetic," the Canadian-Finnish coach Herbert seethed.
"It was probably the most pathetic 20 minutes we've played this season.
"No fight, no will, no energy, no togetherness - absolutely pathetic."
Neither Mojave King nor Reuben Te Rangi saw a millisecond of court-time for the Breakers after the main break.
Reuben Te Rangi didn't see any action after the break | Photo: Martin Keep/AAP
"I couldn't play some guys in the second half because of it," Herbert said.
"I've never had a team come out like that in the first 20 minutes.
"It's one thing to miss shots, but to not give effort, not to compete, lose every battle - it's ridiculous.
"They won every battle, every loose ball, their will was so much stronger than ours.
"We played 'me and I' basketball. There was no 'us and we'.
"There was no fight, no will - our attention to detail doing the little things well was terrible."
"Pathetic, both ends of the floor."
Herbert's public admonishment evoked memories of legendary AFL coach Malcolm Blight, while in charge of Adelaide, famously branding David Pittman "the most pathetic ruckman I've ever seen in my entire life in footy" early in the 1997 season.
The Crows recovered to win the premiership that year, with Pittman playing a key role, before going back-to-back in 1998.
"If you have to coach effort, you're really in trouble," Herbert continued.
"You've got to coach a lot of different things, but I don't coach effort.
"If we've got to coach effort, we're in trouble and we might as well go home.
"I just thought our effort was much better after halftime, our demeanour on defence was much better ... we gave a shit, so to speak.
"We'll see what our response is on Monday (against Melbourne United at John Cain Arena) and what our demeanour is."
