Offensive struggles haunt Breakers
The New Zealand Breakers remain mired in an offensive funk that threatens to torpedo their Australian NBL playoff aspirations.
Paul Henare’s Kiwi club sunk to their seventh defeat in their last 11 games with an all-the-way 90-73 loss at the Perth Wildcats on Saturday night – a result that drops the Breakers to 13-9 and fourth place in the standings.
It was their fourth straight road defeat and leaves them now 5-6 away from home this season. The four-time champions should still progress safely to the post-season (they probably need to win just two of their remaining six games to clinch passage) but the way they are playing right now offers little in the way of optimism that they can make some noise in the playoffs.
The Aucklandbased outfit remains a long, long way from the smooth offensive force they were when they rattled off nine straight victories through the first half of the season. Over their last three defeats, all on the road, they have failed to break 80 points, with totals of 73, 71 and 79 points respectively.
Henare lamented his team’s lack of offensive production again in Perth as they simply failed to keep pace with a more urgent, aggressive and dialled-in home outfit who, led by a standout 27 points from Bryce Cotton, shook off their own slump that had seen them drop their last three at their home fortress.
The Wildcats shot 52 per cent from the floor and kept the visitors to a 43.5 per cent clip. More importantly, the Breakers were able to make just four of 24 three-pointers attempted and also gave up 30 freethrows to just 16, with Perth converting 26 of those freebies and the Kiwis just nine.
Henare admitted the offensive struggles were a concern, as just three players (Edgar Sosa, Alex Pledger and Rakeem Christmas) made it to the double-figure threshold, with all finishing on 10 points.
‘‘We’re four of 24 from the three,’’ added Henare. ‘‘I thought
we created good shots and at the end of the day you’ve got to be able to knock shots down. Seventythree points and we miss 20 threes, and the majority were good looks. We’ve got to knock those down.’’
Henare said this week’s away/ home double-header against nearest pursuers the Illawarra Hawks (9-12) now took on massive importance.
‘‘There are six games left, so there’s still time ... we move on from this one. We’ve got a big weekend against the Hawks next week. It’s pretty much do or die for us and them. It’s a big weekend.’’
Asked what his team needed to show this week, Henare replied: ‘‘A lot of it is around our synergy and being on the same page at the offensive end. When we’re all on the same page and put guys in position to play to their strengths, we get good shots.
‘‘When you’re on the road, and especially against a team like this, you can’t afford not to put points on the board. You’ve got to keep scoreboard pressure against a good home team like Perth. When you don’t and they’re coming down the other end and scoring the game can get away from you.’’
The formula remains the same this week, at the Hawks on Friday night and then at Spark Arena against the same opponents on Sunday.