JAKARTA (Indonesia) - Martin Breunig was visibly frustrated after Thailand's game against Australia.
"I would love to be a role model for younger generations to join basketball in Thailand."
That is, of course, understandable. Suffering a 101-48 loss to Australia in a FIBA debut for the Thai-German is a tough pill to swallow.
"Honestly, not so good," said about how he felt after facing the Boomers. "I expect more from myself. But the way I’ve been welcomed here in Thailand, the way the fans reacted, and still reacted after this big loss, it amazes me. It feels like it just feels incredible that we have this huge support in this big venue."
The 2.03M (6'8") center scored 8 points and grabbed 8 rebounds against Australia.
"It's just an amazing feeling, even though it’s just such a tough game to lose," said.
That support was evident in the number of attendance, reported at 5,135 fans - the biggest crowd to ever attend a Thailand national basketball team game.
That might have been the spark Breunig and Thailand needed going into the second game of the window against Indonesia. They were certainly energized and put that on display as they routed Indonesia as the visiting team, 112-71.
By halftime, their offense was already clicking with a team record of 58 points in the first half.
Breunig himself bounced back with a strong outing of 24 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals. He finished the first half shooting a perfect 7-7 from the field.
"It feels great," he said with a merrier tone in his voice this time around after the win. "I'm very proud of the team. It was a team effort, we all came together.
"I had said that in Indonesia you will see the best Thailand team ever and I think we were close to that."
"I think we just took it personally that we didn't play well [against Australia]. They are a good team but we didn't let it discourage us to come out against Indonesia."
"I think we showed very high potential of what we can do."
Thailand have had their moments of flashing potential, especially with an impressive run through the Pre-Qualifiers and in the February window against Indonesia at home. But that potentially has kicked up another notch with Breunig officially joining the party.
Even though this is Breunig's first time play for Thailand in a FIBA competition, he had already played for Thailand in the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) back in 2023 on their way to winning a bronze medal.
His involvement with the Thailand national team has been a long time in the making and no one is more happier to see all this come to fruition than his mother.
"My mother is very proud of me to represent Thailand, and she would be happy to see me more in this uniform," Breunig said. "For her, it's always a dream come true, to be able to see me play for Thailand and her home country."
But this might have not always been a clear vision for the Martin's family from the beginning. He didn't even start off playing basketball at first, especially coming from Germany.
"I did start football, like a lot of children when they are young. My brother played many different sports because he couldn't just stick to one of them," he said.
"It was mainly my brother who spent the most time with me on the court to play one-on-one. Or us playing against others. I will always remember that my brother hated to have me on the opposite side."
"I was a foolish and lazy kid, so I got myself in a lot of trouble in and out of school. My family then decided to set my focus into sports rather than doing something pointless. At some point, I picked up basketball and I liked the game-changing pace. I love the challenge and I'm so into the situation that no matter what the score is - up ten or down ten. A lot of things can happen in basketball.
"So I joined the school team, after just a few practices they advised me to go to a club team. From there on, I felt like I had a much quicker leap within one year than I had in football in 3-6 years. So I stuck with basketball."
And basketball stuck with him, as well. Breunig took so much of a leap in basketball that he eventually made the youth national teams, playing in U16 and U18 Continental Cups - albeit in Europe with Germany.
He'd continue to get better and better, playing in the NCAA Division 1 with teams like Washington and Montana, signing with various professional clubs, and making All-Star teams in the German BBL, before making his way to play for Thailand.
This window wasn't his first time in Thailand, even if it was an important one to play for the national team.
"When I was younger, my mother, brother, and I came a lot to Thailand. We travelled all over the country, visited a lot of temples and got to learn about the culture. My wife and I came back in 2018. We visited, Bangkok and Phuket, and we absolutely loved it. We love the food, the people and in general the culture.
After a successful window playing with Thailand, this route will probably be logged more and more in Breunig's plans and he doesn't mind it one bit.
"It's definitely a much longer way to travel to Asia for games rather than Europe, but in general, I love traveling, so it really doesn't matter where I play. I'm very excited to hopefully travel more in the Asian region because I haven't explored much over here."
Breunig can cross off Cambodia (from playing in the SEA Games last year) and, now, Indonesia after this big win as destinations. Next February, he might check off a return trip to Thailand for their home game against Korea and a trip to Australia to close out the Asia Cup Qualifiers.
There are a lot of moving pieces, but if the ball rolls their way, Thailand could even qualify for the Asia Cup directly in the final window as one of the two top teams.
For Martin, that is his dream come true.
"It would be amazing to be part of a generation to achieve this."
This is shaping out to be quite a time for Thailand basketball indeed. Other than adding a talent like Breunig to a pool that already includes Freddie Lish, Chanatip Jakrawan, Tyler Lamb, and Moses Morgan, there are other young up-and-coming talents that are getting their opportunities and making it count. As a veteran at 32 years of age, Breunig has been willing to share his experience with these youngsters without holding back.
"I'm really impressed with Boom [Ponsakorn Jiamsawad]. He's been good, he's been listening and I’m trying to help him out."
"Junior [Emmanuel Ejesu], I'm trying to help him out to get his presence inside. He's shy and quiet, and I think he needs to find his strengths, but he has a good future."
That has been a recurring talking point for Breunig in his first senior national team FIBA competition: Building a brighter future.
"I would love to be a role model for younger generations to join basketball in Thailand."
"I think there’s a good chance for a good future. It won't be easy to create something out of nothing, but I think if we stick with it, the future is going to be bright."
FIBA