"The perfect season!", "20-0!", "Saints make NBL history!", following a monumental, record breaking season for the 2017 Wellington Saints.

In the early hours of that Monday, as the celebrations started to fade, the players, coaches, families and entire organisation were reminiscing, sharing favourite moments, and wondering: "what made us the best?"

Some will say we were the most talented team, pure and simple, and in essence I probably agree. But to go undefeated, a perfect season, something never done before in New Zealand… it really does a disservice to the group to leave it at that.

My belief is that this year was the perfect storm; a blend of playing talent, excellent coaching, superior administration, and a commitment to excellence. Coach Kevin Braswell summed it up perfectly at the end of the third quarter in the final: "we have strived all year for the perfect quarter of basketball, now's the time".

But the perfect quarter begins with buy in from the whole group. We will prepare as well as we possibly can to win, to win well, and to win for each other. Thus, a performance mindset is born. Sacrifices are made, time is not your own, there is a greater good. 

From my perspective, this was the best conditioned Saints team ever. All five starters, plus three bench players, were in the gym four days a week, sometimes five. The boys who couldn't make that commitment had day jobs, but put in work on the court instead, with no judgement. Everyone saw their teammates working. There were no rifts, factions or cliques.

There was a willingness to learn from each other and put old habits aside. Some lifted alone, others in pairs. As is the way with lifting, new friendships were forged. The difference this year: no one was forced to lift. It happened almost by osmosis, the key players getting work in early in the pre-season, others seeing the benefits, and asking how/when/if they could join in.

We settled on a formula that worked for everyone: a maximum of 45 minutes in the gym from entry to exit. Short, sharp, explosive workouts that worked the entire body. Compound movements, Olympic lifts, all the good stuff. The key wasn't the lifting per se, but the education as to why we were lifting. Haemoglobin? I've heard of that stuff. Oxygen deficit? OK, those two are related? Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, you say? Tell me more. Should we lift in-season? Of course you should, and here's why…

A strength program helps to manage the load in a densely packed season, to reduce the risk of injury, and to prevent faulty movement patterns. But to this team, it also worked to prevent your body from over rotating when landing from a layup, putting your back into spasm again; to help your much-vaunted jump shot from pulling left in the closing seconds of a game; to out-jump the guy who beat you to 'that' rebound two seasons ago; to improve your lateral speed over two metres to grab the game-changing interception. 

All that, but also to look each other in the eye on the second night of a road trip double header, down three with 21 seconds on the clock, and to know that you worked harder in training than you ever could in this game. You're stronger than them, fitter than them, your heart rate is under control, your oxygen is going exactly where it's needed, your muscles have been waiting for just this moment to spring into action, and there's no way you're losing this game. Simple, no. Pure, yes.

One more thing: that 'trademark' burst in the third quarter to put the game beyond reach. The barrage of three-pointers in the fourth that seemed relentless. Even that showpiece windmill at the final buzzer to send the crowd home happy. I'm proud to say that good old strength and conditioning to us folk who live and breathe it, had a hand in all of it.

First published by Stuff.co.nz on 20 June 2017.