Abercrombie out as Breakers hit the skids
This New Zealand Breakers Australian NBL season lurched from bad to worse, with Tom Abercrombie’s hamstring injury the latest blow to the plummeting Kiwi club.
Breakers coach Dan Shamir confirmed after Sunday night’s 98-84 defeat at the Perth Wildcats that Abercrombie was likely to miss significant time after limping off late in the contest with a hamstring injury.
The Breakers are playing for pride only now, with their playoffs hopes pretty much dust after Sunday’s defeat dropped them to 9-18 for the season.
They would have to win all nine of their remaining games even to scratch back to .500 – a mark unlikely to gain them a spot in the playoffs anyway.
The Breakers went into Sunday’s contest against the Cats, whom they had beaten in their previous two matchups, down import Levi Randolph (hamstring tear) and experienced shooting guard Corey Webster (lower back tightness).
Abercrombie added his name to the crocked list late in the contest when he hobbled off with 12 points in 28 minutes on 4-of-8 shooting. It was the team’s second loss on the bounce and fourth defeat in the last six as the light went out on their long-shot playoff hopes
‘‘I think we have lost him [for extended time],’’ said Shamir. ‘‘I don’t know exactly for how long, but it doesn’t look good at all. It’s sad but we will have to overcome this too.’’
The Breakers have battled injury losses, among a myriad of issues, all of this season which has seen them based entirely in Australia thus far.
They have two more road games to come (at South East Melbourne tomorrow night and then Illawarra on Saturday) before returning to New Zealand for their last seven games.
They will be playing those only to avoid the wooden spoon, for which they are locked in a tight race with the 7-21 Cairns Taipans. The Breakers players have not seen their Kiwi families and friends since they left to prepare for the season just before Christmas.
‘‘All these things are always tough, and they’re always opportunities too, for people to step up and to see what they are about,’’ added Shamir when asked about team morale.
‘‘It’s unfortunate. He (Abercrombie) played 28 minutes, but he’s carrying a lot of load. I don’t know the duration [of the injury] but it doesn’t take two days for a hamstring to heal.’’