Breakers thumped again At a glance
It’s just three games into this Australian NBL season, but so far at least Kevin Braswell’s newlook Breakers suck at home.
The Kiwi club produced a second straight sub-par home performance to be thumped by exNBA star Andrew Bogut and the Sydney Kings 101-78 at Spark Arena on Sunday. It was their second straight home defeat of the new season which leaves them at a wobbly 1-2 after week two.
But, more to the point, it was a second straight muddled performance on their home court. The Breakers’ offence was clunky and inefficient, their defence was poor and their energy and effort levels well short of the mark required. The pace that Braswell keeps promising was simply not there.
With significantly fewer fans turning out (it is a holiday weekend), there will be early concerns among the new ownership that has introduced seven new players and a change in coach for this season.
So farthings have not exactly been convincing. Their only victory of the season (last Sunday in Melbourne) came against a side ‘fresh’ of a quadruple overtime thriller 40 hours previous, and without an injured import. Tai Wesley (22 points) and Shawn Long (17 points and 10 rebounds) had their positive moments, but among the rest there was little to write home about. Corey Webster’s shooting struggles continued (2/11 FG), Tom Abercrombie (9 points) was not the player he was in Melbourme, Sydney Kings 101 (Kevin Lisch 19, Jerome Randle 15, Kyle Adnam 15, David Wear 15, Andrew Bogut 13, Brian Bowen 11), NZ Breakers 78 (Tai Wesley 22, Shawn Long 17). 1Q: 29-18; HT: 48-40; 3Q: 70-58.
Patrick Richard (7 points on 3-of10 shooting) also struggled and Shea Ili and Finn Delany are out of sorts offensively.
Import Armani Moore (4 points) was a non-factor for the third straight game.
The same could not be said of the Sydney Kings who shook off their back-to-back defeats to Adelaide to open the season and put on a scoring clinic. They shot 60 percent from the floor and 55 from deep, had six players score in double figures and won with ridiculous ease.
Kevin Lisch (19 points on 5-of-8 shooting) led the visitors efficiently, but with Jerome Randle, David Wear and Kyle Adnam all adding 15 points, Andrew Bogut 13 points, 8 boards and 4 assists and young American NBA hopeful Brian Bowen 11 points, the attack came from all directions.