Hopson lauds resilience
The Breakers have shown many qualities on this remarkable run of theirs in the Australian National Basketball League, but star import Scotty Hopson knows which one it is that has them on the brink of an unlikely playoff spot.
‘‘We’ve been resilient all season,’’ said the 30-year-old American, who produced yet another defining individual performance to lead his Breakers to a vital victory in Brisbane on Friday night.
On the back of a season-high 31 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals from the world-class Hopson, the Breakers stunned Andrej Lemanis’ Bullets 91-87 to improve to 14-13 for the season. They could now be just one win – in their regular season finale against South East Melbourne Phoenix in Christchurch on Friday – from securing the fourth and final playoff spot.
It’s a tight race, for sure, with Brisbane (14-12) and Melbourne United (12-13) still very much in contention. But the Bullets have a tough finish (at Perth today, then at home to the playoff-bound Cairns Taipans) and Melbourne would need to win all three of their remaining games to give themselves a shot.
Crucially, the Breakers have the superior points percentage of the trio, which is the tie-breaker. The non-negotiable for the Kiwis is a win in Christchurch.
Do that and they just might find that miracles can happen, after all.
Coach Dan Shamir’s men had to dig deep on several occasions in Brisbane to come up with a second knife-edge victory for the season. They trailed 10-0 early after the Bullets shot out of the gate and fell behind by eight midway through the third period, only to haul themselves back into the contest again.
‘‘We’ve had so many ups and downs, we’ve been through a lot,’’ said Hopson. ‘‘I’m just proud to be in this locker room with these guys, fighting each and every day. It shows in our performances.’’
In an incredibly tight contest – there was never more than a bucket in it at the end of the first three quarters – it was the Breakers who made the big plays when it mattered. After Bullets import Lamar Patterson had rattled off five quick points to put the home side up 85-81, springy big man Brandon Ashley made two huge tap-ins on consecutive possessions to put the Kiwi side back in front (87-85).
The crucial play came with the Breakers up two with 12 seconds remaining when Hopson drew a crowd high and found Finn Delany under the hoop with enough room to squeeze off a difficult layup over contesting shot-blocker Will Magnay. That iced the victory.
‘‘I had to finish a layup at some stage,’’ shrugged the Kiwi forward afterwards.
‘‘My man just left me, went to Hop, who’s obviously going to attract a lot of attention, and I just found some space along the baseline and finished it off.’’
Hopson added: ‘‘Me and Finn got a little chemistry going, and we’re going to keep building on that. Finn is an incredible player, a guy who works hard each and every day and I’m glad to see the results paying off for him on the basketball floor.’’
It really was a remarkable victory to cap this stunning second half of the season for the Breakers, who have won five of their last six and 10 of their last 13. They have been clutch down the stretch and Friday night was no exception.
Shamir played pretty much six players in Brisbane. They should have been out on their feet at the end. Instead, they kept making big plays till the final buzzer.
Delany continues to emerge as a genuine force in this league, finishing Friday with a doubledouble of 15 points and 12 rebounds. Like everyone, he knocked down big triples, converting three of his four attempts from beyond the arc.
Sek Henry added 15 points, including a trio of triples, Tom Abercrombie made all three of his long-range attempts to finish with 11 points, Ashley even made a couple from deep among his 10 points and five boards, while Rob Loe (9 points, 3 rebounds) swished all three of his attempts from the land of plenty.
The Breakers made 15 threepointers in total (from 33 attempts) and nailed all 14 of their freethrows. They also forced 13 Bullets turnovers and won the points off giveaways 19-7.
‘‘It was a character win for us,’’ said Shamir. ‘‘You just need to stand in the right places and make big plays. These are players’ moments. I’m very happy our players made good enough plays to give us this win.’’