Loe leading the way for Breakers
If Rob Loe can have another game on Friday night like he did against Sydney last weekend then the Breakers can already bank on a win against the 36ers in Adelaide.
The 26-year-old Loe scored an eye watering 23 points in as many minutes against Sydney.
He made nine of his 16 shots, four of eight from beyond the arc, and had a plus/minus of +12.
‘‘It was pleasing, because I’ve had a rushed start to the season,’’ said Loe, who was born in Leicester, England.
‘‘But the whole team can do what I did against Sydney and it’s just who can step up on the night.
‘‘That’s what so good about being part of this team, everyone shares the load and its fun to be part of.’’
Loe landed four three pointers in that game, more than any other player and he said he was surprised that the Kings players didn’t close him down when he was taking the long range shots.
‘‘I’ve never really been left open that that much and I’m normally known for being a shooter,’’ he said.
‘‘So it was good to see my shot fall and guys penetrating and kicking it to me wide.
‘‘So it’s great to have that threat, for the guys to see me.’’
As a centre, Loe’s main job isn’t to score points and he says he doesn’t judge whether he’s had a good night on the court or not by how many points he’s scored.
‘‘My coach in college [Saint Louis] never really drilled offence, it was all about defence,’’ he said.
‘‘I really pride myself on holding the defence down and doing my best there.
‘‘Whether you have a good or bad game, all you want to do is win and that’s the most important thing for any player in this team.’’
Sometimes teams dodge the word ‘revenge’ when talking about up coming opponents, they’d rather treat all games the same way, well, publicly at least.
However, the Breakers are hardly hiding their feelings about playing Adelaide again, just a couple of weeks after the disastrous fourth quarter meltdown against them, when they threw the game away.
‘‘It’s good while it’s fresh in our memories, to get our revenge on them,’’ Loe said. ‘‘We’ve worked hard this week and we’ll be ready come game day.’’
The Breakers have won just two of their last six games and while they’re back on top of the ladder, they aren’t looking as dominant a team as they were during the ninegame winning streak early in the season.
However, wins over Brisbane and Sydney either side of the Adelaide debacle have looked to steady the ship and Low says confidence is as high as ever.
‘‘We’ve kept it on an even keel,’’ he said.
‘‘Even when we were winning, we were having film sessions where we could see we wanted to improve on a lot of things.’’