Shooting woes plague lastplaced Breakers

AUCKLAND: The Breakers are searching for answers after returning to the bottom of the NBL ladder.

The Cairns Taipans reversed Saturday night’s loss to the Breakers, winning 8469 in Cairns to snap a sixgame losing streak and leapfrog their opponents on the table.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir did not hide his disappointment after the game.

‘‘A bad game for us. We didn’t have a lot of flow in our game, partially it is because of Taipans coverages. They came with a lot of switches that by definition takes a little bit of your flow,’’ Shamir said.

‘‘While we struggled there with shotmaking we were also a step slow in a lot of effort criteria, got behind the whole game and chased them.’’

The Breakers shot just 35% from the floor and made a meagre four of their 30 three point attempts.

‘‘We’re not ignoring we’re struggling with shooting right now,’’ Shamir said.

‘‘We’ve got good shooters not really making shots right now. It’s not the first game and I’m sure it will come. These guys didn’t forget how to shoot.’’

Because of the shooting woes guards Tai and Corey Webster sat for the majority of the fourth quarter as Shamir turned to import Lamar Patterson to try to keep the Breakers in the game.

‘‘When the team is struggling you look for anchors and it looks like you keep searching for the right lineups and for the right balance.

‘‘We have a lot of good piece,s we just need to find a way.

‘‘Last game was very positive for Lamar and we know what he can do. And also today the fourth quarter was very positive.

‘‘But there are reasons for the fact that it’s not an automatic go to and hopefully we will all get there.’’

And Shamir has refused to blame the Breakers’ situation for their slow start to the season.

‘‘The Breakers are going to face a tough few months. It’s not easy to be [in your] hotel room all the time and away from your home.

‘‘That’s a fact and it’s going to be tough and we know it and we prepared for it.

‘‘It’s definitely not a reason for anything. We played our fourth game today, after enough time together to produce something better than that.’’

The Breakers next visit the Sydney Kings on Friday night before the league goes into a bubble in Melbourne. — RNZ