Iverson’s record night not enough
The South East Melbourne Phoenix had no answer for the dominance of New Zealand Breakers’ big man Colton Iverson, who tallied a massive 26 points and 22 rebounds, but still managed to escape with a 92-85 win.
Breakers coach Dan Shamir was delighted to get what he did out of Iverson, but wanted to see better execution overall.
“I’m happy that he gets those numbers and gets the recognition for how great he is. He can be even better for us,” Shamir said.
“Colton’s great advantage is making guards better. Obviously his presence is big . . . but his ability to get ball guards open and do the little things, ball screens, is second to none.
“We should have gotten slightly better shots and should have finished today.”
The Phoenix made their first seven shots, which helped them to a 20-11 lead midway through the first quarter. At that stage, Cam Gliddon had already made a trio of three-pointers. It was 29-17 at quarter-time.
The Phoenix had not lost all season when they had scored 23 points or more in the first quarter. It gave Shamir plenty to think about.
There was one part of the floor where the Breakers dominated, solely thanks to one 40-minute era recordsetting individual. To put it plainly, Iverson was a one-man mountain in the paint.
The Breakers big man had the half-time stat line of 16 points and 14 rebounds. With eight more rebounds in the second half, Iverson eclipsed AJ Ogilvy’s 21-rebound mark from 2008, the 40-minute NBL record.
Halfway through the third quarter, as New Zealand’s shooting stroke improved to complement Iverson’s productivity, the Breakers inexplicably hit the lead — erasing a game-high 17-point deficit — at 60-59.
Corey Webster continued to work his way into the game after a slow start, on his way to 11 points and four assists in his first game since returning from a knee injury.
As did his brother Tai Webster, who finished with 16 points and seven assists. Along with those aforementioned boards, Iverson would also finish the game-high scorer with 26 points.
Still, it wasn’t enough as South East Melbourne proved to have another charge in them. — nbl.com.au