Penney backed to shake slump
It’s only a matter of time, says Paul Henare, before the real Kirk Penney shows back up again for the Breakers.
Henare leapt to the defence of Kiwi hoops legend Penney in the wake of a second straight sub-par performance for the weekend from the 37-year-old as he was held scoreless for the first time in his
174-game ANBL career in a messy Sunday defeat at the Brisbane Bullets.
On top of Friday’s home 89-73 loss to Perth, which snapped the Breakers’ nine-game win streak, the league leaders appear to have well and truly hit the wall. At 9-3, they now sit just one win ahead of the second-placed Wildcats at the top of the table.
After what might have been close to the worst weekend of Penney’s long professional career, it would have been comforting for the struggling veteran to hear his coach backing him so vociferously.
On Friday Penney, who hadn’t played for the best part of three weeks, made just two of eight shots en route to seven points in 21 offkey minutes against the
Wildcats. He also struggled to contain explosive
Perth small forward JeanPierre Tokoto who led all scorers with 25 points.
Then on
Sunday in a lacklustre
81-76 defeat to the secondfrom-bottom Bullets, the threetime ANBL scoring champion whiffed on all six of his shots and finished his 21 minutes with zero points, three boards, two turnovers and a team-worst plus/ minus of -18.
‘‘One thing we’ve got to realise is we had the Fiba [international] break, but Kirk didn’t play the week before that as well with his back, so he’s coming off a threeweek break and he’s kinda had to reset,’’ said Henare after the Brisbane defeat.
‘‘He’s frustrated, he wanted to play well and have an impact in the team. It’s only a matter of time before that ball starts going through the hoop.’’
Henare was clearly trying to stay positive after a Brisbane defeat gift-wrapped by his team’s propensity to foul. By halftime the Bullets had shot 24 free-throws to the Breakers’ five, and at game end they had been presented with 36 attempts to just 13 for the visitors.
‘‘I didn’t think we did a good enough job, myself included, adjusting to how the game was being played and called,’’ said Henare.
‘‘At times we were much better than [against Perth], but playing against a desperate Brisbane team, with a few effort areas and desperation plays in that first half, it just took us too long to kick in to gear.’’
With a return clash against the Bullets at Spark Arena on Thursday night, followed by a Sunday visit to Adelaide, Henare felt his men were entering a pivotal juncture.
‘‘It’s good for us just to see how we’re going to step up, how tight we’re going to stay in this tough time ... oh, it’s not a tough time, we’ve lost two games in three days. But how we respond to the way we’re playing and the improvements we can make, that’s what we’ll judge ourselves on.’’
Expect a Penney bounceback this round. His coach certainly is.