Injured import Anthony Lamb could prove the secret weapon as the New Zealand Breakers look to spring an upset on his former coach in a sudden-death finals clash with the Sydney Kings.
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Ex-NBA forward Lamb has not played since February 4 when he tore his Achilles tendon playing against the Perth Wildcats.
But as his countrymen from eliminated NBL teams begin flying back to the United States, Lamb has stayed with the Breakers, who snuck into the finals during the last round of the regular season.
Lamb worked closely with Mahmoud Abdelfattah during the current Kings coach's time in charge of the Houston Rockets' NBA G-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
The pair won a championship together in 2022, with Abdelfattah claiming G-League coach of the year that season and Lamb earning selection in the All G-League Third Team.
Lamb and Abdelfattah parlayed the success into NBA opportunities for the 2022/23 season, the former becoming a mainstay of the Golden State Warriors' bench and the latter an assistant coach at the Rockets.
Lamb will watch on when the sixth-placed Breakers travel to Sydney to face the fifth-placed Kings for a do-or-die Play-In clash.
He has spent the week helping Mody Maor's coaching staff prepare the injury-hit side for Wednesday's game.
"Lambo has been vocal in this lead-up," said Breakers forward Finn Delany.
"He knows little bits (about Abdelfattah's coaching), no overriding message but just really helpful little bits of information.
"(It's) kind of different to everybody, how they can affect the game, what they can look for but also just reminding guys their strengths, what to lean into. Things like that."
The Breakers will wait until game day to determine whether Delany and injured talisman Will McDowell-White can suit up.
McDowell-White injured his shoulder during their final game of the regular season on February 18 but has not yet been ruled out.
Delany missed that loss to the Adelaide 36ers with back spasms but appears a good chance of playing after he completed a full training session on Monday.
Maor was coy on the pair's prognosis when quizzed this week and the Breakers have since told AAP they would wait until Wednesday to make the final call on their fitness.
The Kings have had to contend with personnel issues in the lead-up to the game as well.
First-choice centre Jordan Hunter, among the Kings' best this season, has been absent from the back-end of preparations through Australian representative duty.
The 27-year-old flew to Jakarta last week to play in the 106-51 drubbing of Indonesia during the FIBA international break and only returned on Tuesday morning.
Kings assistant coach Daniel Kickert was in regular contact during Hunter's spell away, though, with Abdelfattah also reaching out.
The club filmed new drills and sent them to Hunter on WhatsApp to watch from Jakarta.
"Jordi's smart, he'll figure it out," said Kings import Denzel Valentine.
"He'll come in and he'll be fine."
Australian Associated Press
