Breakers’ problems exposed
Breakers coach Dan Shamir blasted the Australian NBL for its slippery decals that have become a talking point of the early rounds of the new season; but has more pressing matters on his mind as he searches for answers to some glaring early issues.
Shamir’s Breakers were their own worst enemies as they gifted a 94-91 overtime victory to hosts the Adelaide 36ers in their ANBL season opener on Friday night.
The two meet again tomorrow at the same venue as the New Zealand outfit continues what might be a season-long road trip across the ditch.
Shamir has a bit to think about, too.
He is without backup big man Dan Trist because of a Covid protocol breach that saw him placed into immediate 14-day isolation.
It’s a situation the Breakers are owning after they allowed Trist’s wife to visit him from Melbourne, unaware the contact ran contrary to strict interstate regulations.
On top of Corey Webster’s absence with his own selfinflicted problem (a knife wound from attempting to cut an avocado), it left the Breakers short of bodies for the season opener, and forced to play development player Kyrin Galloway in a nine-man rotation.
Both imports were shy of the standard and fitness expected first up too, and Shamir must have concerns in particular about
2.13m centre Colton Iverson who looked out of shape and devoid of rhythm. He had just one point
(0/1 FG) and six rebounds in 10 minutes on Friday.
Others, too, had their issues first up.
The Breakers, who were out on their feet in the closing stages, also made some bad mental errors which cost them a victory they had in hand – including back-to-back brain explosions when they had the ball and led by three with just 13 seconds remaining in regulation.
Shamir is angry about the slippery decal situation, too. The Australian players’ association has raised it with the ANBL and the league said it was seeking to address the problem. Breakers forward Tom Abercrombie slipped badly and it appeared to knock him out of his rhythm.
The coach was also understood to be fuming over the officiating in his team’s opener. A lot of ticky-tack fouls were called early (including three quick ones on Iverson), then the referees swallowed their whistles at the end.
The Breakers also got the raw end of several key decisions down the stretch. Lamar Patterson was clearly fouled by Donald Sloan when the Breakers led 82-79 with 13 seconds left, but that was missed and he was whistled for a travel instead.
Patterson also appeared to be fouled at the end of regulation when he took the ball to the hoop with the scores knotted, but was credited with another turnover.
‘‘My job is to focus on the mistakes we made at the end,’’ Shamir told from Adelaide. ‘‘People make mistakes, players too. We made a mistake doubleteaming Daniel Johnson and leaving Sloan open. Lamar Paterson was fouled by Sloan with 13 seconds to go, the refs missed it, and he turned the ball over.
‘‘He shouldn’t turn the ball over. It was obvious Sloan wanted to foul him to put him on the line, but Lamar should not turn the ball over until he hears the whistle. There were a lot of things we can do better.’’