Breakers out of race to finish in top two
Kiwi team will have to win on the road to claim a fifth title after losing to leaders
Melbourne 100 Breakers 82
If the New Zealand Breakers are to win their fifth Australian NBL title, they are going to have to do it in a different fashion. For each of their four titles, the Breakers qualified in the top two, but this time, they will have to cause an upset on the road to add to their trophy cabinet.
A 100-82 defeat to Melbourne United has seen Breakers hopes of finishing in the top two dashed, instead dropping back to fourth.
With a 15-11 record, they no longer have a chance of securing home advantage for the three-match semifinals, instead having to fight for third spot and a likely showdown with the Adelaide 36ers.
As for top spot? Well, that’s all sealed up by Melbourne, after their second win over the Breakers in three days. If current projections hold, they could meet again in the playoffs, and for once, Melbourne will have no trepidation about battling the Breakers.
Coming into this weekend, Melbourne had lost 10 of their last 11 meetings against the Breakers, but in their two victories, they emphatically showed why they are title favourites.
Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman thought the weekend was extremely significant for his side as the playoffs loom, but sounded a warning about the Breakers’ potency come the finals.
“It means something for us — it hasn’t been a great winning percentage for the club [against the Breakers]. But to split two games each with them, that’s important for our confidence,” said Vickerman.
“I’m well aware of what the group is capable of in finals situations — every possession is a war against them when it comes to finals time.”
Melbourne’s confidence will be high after yesterday, with United claiming their first victory in Auckland since 2014 with an excellent offensive performance, though partially aided by a horror free-throw performance from the hosts.
The Breakers shot just 14 of 30 from the free-throw line — Tom Abercrombie (1 of 8) and Mika Vukona (3 of 7) the main culprits — and Breakers coach Paul Henare lamented how those struggles put them on the back foot.
“I said earlier in the year that there’s going to be a time where the foul line possibly costs us the game, and while it might not have been 100 per cent responsible, it definitely had an impact,” said Henare.
It was part of another mixed display from a Breakers offence which has often fluctuated in its efficiency. Initially, they tried to work it inside, with limited success, before changing tack as Edgar Sosa drove and dished, finding shooters to knock down threes. Sosa handed out six firstquarter assists, with DJ Newbill profiting, knocking down three consecutive threes as the Breakers led 30-25 at quarter-time.
If the opening stanza was highoctane, the Breakers spluttered afterwards, scoring just five points in the next six-and-a-half minutes as Melbourne stormed back.
Led by Chris Goulding and Josh Boone, Melbourne were attacking the rim with success, and hitting 85 per cent of the freebies when sent to the free-throw line. At the other end, the Breakers were also heading to the line, but with far less success.
Despite those woes, the Breakers were still in the contest at halftime, but they encountered further problems after the interval.
Those, too, were easy to diagnose, with the Breakers losing their defensive structure as Melbourne started to rain in open threes.
First, it was reserve guard Peter Hooley, who linked up well with Kiwi Tohi Smith-Milner to give Melbourne a sizeable lead, before David Barlow and Goulding both sank triples to make it an inerasable advantage.
The final margin was 18, with Melbourne sealing a victory that clinched top spot and title favouritism. A rematch could soon be on the cards in the playoffs, and Vukona isn’t reading much into the recent results.
“Once the playoffs start, all that is out the window — we’re all on an even keel. We’ve got things we need to work on, and tidy those up in the next two games. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”
Henare is also confident they can turn things around once the going gets tough.
“We’re going to have to do it the hard way and that’s okay.” Melbourne 100 (Goulding 21, Boone 19) Breakers 82 (Sosa 25, Newbill 13). Halftime: 46-41.