Woodside’s looking to be on guard for Breakers
Twin challenges big task for point guard still trying to find his feet
If it wasn’t a tough enough task to spark two of last season’s top scorers, Ben Woodside must also tonight stop the man who topped the charts.
The point guard will be facing those twin challenges on a rare Saturday Australian NBL game at Vector Arena, having to mix his responsibilities in running the Breakers’ offence with the unenviable ask of defending Adelaide’s Jerome Randle.
To begin with the former, much has been made of the relatively slow starts of Kirk Penney and Corey Webster, an ostensibly lethal combination at shooting guard which has so far failed to gun down any opponent. Their struggles have been a reason the Breakers have slipped to 1- 3.
And Woodside knows that, while it’s down to Penney and Webster to put the ball in the hole, it’s his job to facilitate opportunities for both men, something that will take time for any point guard learning a new offence.
“When you’ve got shooters and when you’ve got microwaves like Webster, you’ve got to get them the ball at the right time and where they can be a scoring threat,” Woodside said. “That’s my position overall — try to be a playmaker and try to get guys involved.
“It’s taken a little bit of time but I think I’m adjusting pretty well. I’m feeling more and more comfortable each day, I’ve got great coaches and great teammates. But for me, it’s coming along well and hopefully I can keep getting better.”
Tonight that quest for improvement will run into a rather imposing obstacle. Through five games Randle has already resumed his unstoppable scoring from last season, leading the league with 24 points per game and sitting a tick above his average from year one in Adelaide.
Having encountered Randle on a couple of occasions in European basketball, Woodside had some experience in attempting to negate his fellow American.
“He’s a great player and, obviously, a dynamic scorer,” Woodside said. “He’s a tough guy to defend and he’s got a lot of different weapons — he’s great at the pull- up game, getting in the paint, getting to the free- throw line and hitting the three- ball.
“He’s someone that you’ve always got to have your eyes on and be conscious of where he’s at on the floor. But it’ll be a fun night going up against him — it’s always fun going against a player of his calibre. So I’m looking forward to it and hopefully we can play some good defence on him.”
That, in addition to the misfiring offence, has been one issue plaguing the Breakers in patches this season. Soft defensive stretches, sloppy ballhandling and missed free throws have all conspired against the Kiwi club but Woodside believed his side’s record wasn’t representative of their collective abilities.
“You look back on it and, out of those three games that we’ve lost, it has just been one or two possessions that haven’t gone our way,” he said. “That’s been the decisive factor in those games — just a few key possessions here or there and we could have had a different record.”
Ben Woodside