Breakers back in the groove with timely win
Paul Henare demanded a big response and his side did not disappoint as the Breakers kicked off the new year with a confidence-boosting win over Cairns Taipans.
While it was by no means a perfect display, the Auckland outfit led from start to finish at Spark Arena, ahead by as much as 17 in second half before sealing a 82-69 victory.
The hottest team in the league before November’s international window, the Breakers have struggled since then losing five of the previous seven games, including a couple of woeful displays against Adelaide.
But in front of their biggest home crowd of the season of 5793, the team showed improvement right across the board, with Edgar Sosa (19), Tom Abercrombie (16), DJ Newbill (12) and Kirk Penney (11) all reaching double figures.
‘‘I challenged the starting group to lay a good platform for us and I thought they did that with their energy and with their intent on defence,’’ Henare said.
‘‘Basketball is a game of momentum, ebbs and flows and that happened throughout the game.
‘‘But it was a performance we can build on and one the guys should be happy with.’’
The win lifted the Breakers’ record to 12-6, keeping pace with Melbourne and Perth at the top of the table.
It was built on a brilliant defensive display as the home team held the Taipans (10-11) to 32 per cent shooting from the floor (compared to 44 per cent from the Breakers).
Dropped to the bench after failing to make an impact in recent weeks, centre Alex Pledger played like he had a point to prove, recording five rebounds and two blocks before running into foul trouble in the third quarter.
The performance was timely for Pledger. The is club set to bolster its squad with the addition former NBA big man Rakeem Christmas, whose signing is expected to be confirmed this week.
‘‘I thought Pledge was great tonight,’’ added Henare, who declined to comment on Christmas.
‘‘The energy he played with, looking at his numbers it probably doesn’t do his impact justice.’’
Henare was highly critical of their start during the previous game in Adelaide but the Breakers flew out of the blocks on Sunday.
They opened up a 15-4 lead within the first four minutes before six sloppy turnovers saw that whittled down to just four by the end of the first quarter.
Yet whatever Henare said at the break clearly had the desired affect.
With rebounding up at the defensive end and the team much more disciplined with the ball, the home team exploded midway through the second period with a 13-0 run.
Kirk Penney found his touch off the bench with all his points coming before halftime. And it was only a late burst by Jerry Evans Jr (17 points) and Jarrad Weeks (15 points) that helped limit the damage.
Up by 10 at the start of the third quarter, this was the time for the Breakers to put their foot on the throat.
After a slow start from both teams, that looked to be the case when another scoring spurt gave them their biggest lead of the game.
But just as they did all afternoon, Cairns, who welcomed back key centre Nate Jawai for the first time since October, refused to go away.
With the sloppy turnovers returning and Pledger subbing out, the visitors got to within five points early in the final period.
The Breakers looked tense on offence as they tried to force their shots in the face of some physical Taipans defence.
That was until two pressure-relieving threes from Abercrombie and DJ Newbill snatched back the momentum.
The win was just what they needed ahead of next weekend’s difficult road trip to Illawarra, while Cairns travel to Adelaide on Thursday.