Aggressive intent ignites Abercrombie’s rebound
CALL BACK the search party. Tom Abercrombie has found his A game – just in the nick of time, too.
Abercrombie’s New Zealand Breakers put the seal on a perfect holiday season on Friday night in Townsville, sneaking home 82-78 on the back of another trademark second- half comeback from 15 points down.
The victory, paced by Abercrombie’s 19 points, nine of which came in the final three minutes, gave the back- to- back Australian NBL champions a perfect 4-0 record over their festive season away stretch and advanced them to a league-best 13-3 mark. They have now won five on the bounce, and continue to stave off the prolonged challenge of the Perth Wildcats.
At the same stage last season the Breakers were 11-5, and cruised to their second successive minor premiership with two games to spare. It’s the first time they have swept their traditional holiday road haul.
There were plenty of encouraging signs from a victory that looked unlikely late in the third quarter when the Breakers trailed by 14 and seemingly had no answer to the twin threats of point guard Gary Ervin (29 points) and towering centre Luke Nevill (20).
But they smashed the Crocs 44-18 on the boards, 17-2 at the offensive end. That sort of advantage is going to win you ball games most days of the week. The Breakers also had 10 steals to four, won points off turnovers 19- 12 and second-chance points 10-2.
As coach Andrej Lemanis would note, win those effort areas and you’re going to be tough to crack.
Still, the Breakers had to dominate possession – they had 13 more shots and nine more foul shots – because they allowed the Crocs far too many easy shots. Townsville were running at just under 60 per cent from the floor as they built a 45-30 halftime lead, and ended the game at a more than respectable 54 per cent.
So, just as they’d done in Adelaide a few weeks earlier, the Breakers found a way to win even when things weren’t swinging their way.
But best of all was the emergence of Abercrombie to something resembling the form with which he cut a swathe through the league in 2011-12.
The springy small forward has been bothered by ankle problems ever since that horrible late foul by Croc Peter Crawford in the semifinal decider in Auckland in April.
But on Friday night Abercrombie turned a corner. The Breakers will be hoping it’s a permanent state of affairs.
With 31⁄ minutes left the Breakers trailed by seven. A Will Hudson dunk reduced that margin to five, before Abercrombie grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and announced: ‘‘I’m back!’’
He swished four consecutive jump shots coming off the down screen, including one from threepoint country, and in three frantic minutes the Breakers had turned a five-point deficit into a four-point victory.
‘‘You could just see the change in him as a person – he was running around confident. We need him to be like that during the playoff period,’’ Breakers assistant coach Dean Vickerman said.
Vickerman said there had been no indication that a breakout night was looming for Abercrombie, but added: ‘‘You just knew it was coming.’’
Veteran Breakers guard CJ Bruton never had any doubts, saying he’d noticed a spring in Abercrombie’s step ever since he returned from All-Star duty.
‘‘For us to keep going back to him, let him make the decisions if he shoots it or finds somebody else, it was great confidence for the team and for him as well.’’
For his part, Abercrombie, who made nine of his 15 attempts, said it had been a matter of trying to stay aggressive, even when the shots hadn’t been falling early on.
‘‘I was feeling good in the fourth quarter and my team-mates did a good job of finding me in certain spots,’’ he said.
‘‘You’ve got to keep that confidence going, and I was wanting to shoot those ones at the end for sure.’’
Abercrombie was not the bright light for the Breakers.
Leon Henry made two huge momentum-changing triples at the end of the third quarter; Cedric Jackson flirted with another tripledouble (10 points, 10 boards, eight assists and three steals); the twoheaded centre combination of Hudson and Alex Pledger combined for 20 points and 17 rebounds; while Mika Vukona ( eight points, eight boards, five assists) and Dillon Boucher ( six points on three-for-five shooting) also made crucial plays.
‘‘We put a big focus on these four games to try and get them all,’’ Vickerman said. ‘‘Some people were talking about three out of four, but we expect to go and win every game.’’
The grind continues for the Breakers who return home for a Thursday night match against Wollongong before a quickturnaround Sunday visit to Adelaide.
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