Breakers blast back to form with blitz
Injury-ridden lowly Sydney Kings forced to abdicate as champions again rule court
How do the Breakers respond after being blitzed by two of the best scorers in the ANBL competition? By unleashing their own. Corey Webster added yet another offensive burst to a season full of them, grabbing 38 points to help the Breakers to a bounce-back win over the Kings in Sydney yesterday.
Coach Dean Vickerman said earlier in the week he had been proud of the way his side have responded to setbacks and, after Kirk Penney and Kevin Lisch last week combined to hand the defending champions their heaviest loss of the season, that feeling would have only enhanced.
The outstanding efforts of Webster were enough to help the Breakers recover from a slow start in Sydney, banishing the bad memories of that 24-point thumping against the Hawks.
The victory meant the Breakers have now followed their last three losses with wins and saw the Kiwi club kick-start a two-game festive road trip ahead of their New Year’s Eve trip to Cairns.
While such scheduling always proves testing for the players’ mindsets, there were rarely any signs of distraction in the minds of Webster and company yesterday. It has been four years since the Breakers suffered defeat in the festive season and, in truth, that was never likely to change against the lowly Kings.
Not only are Sydney in last spot, not only have the Breakers now won all four meetings between the teams by double figures, but the Kings were so injury-hit, they were forced to suit up their assistant coach. Ben Knight took the court for the first time since 2011, making his 400th career appearance after an injury-enforced early retirement, but that was about the only highlight for the home side.
The Breakers enjoyed a fair few more, with Webster again leading the NZ Breakers 93 Sydney Kings 83 way. The league’s leading scorer recorded his second-highest total of the campaign, shooting 50 per cent from the floor and going 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
That’s one area in which Vickerman’s men have struggled this season but, as a team, they enjoyed a 19-of-21 line. They also dominated on the boards — meeting their coach’s mandate to win the rebounding battle by 10 — and would have relished the valuable contributions they received throughout the squad.
Tom Abercrombie added 14 points and Tai Wesley chipped in with 11, while Alex Pledger (eight points, 10 rebounds) produced a nice performance off the bench. Perhaps the only concern was another underwhelming outing from Cedric Jackson, with the guard recording more turnovers (six) than points (four).
The Breakers’ ball-handling was again poor in a scrappy opening period, with seven turnovers helping the hosts jump out to an early lead. While 16 points in the quarter would have been a disappointing return against the worst defence in the competition, the visitors soon found their fluency at the offensive end.
A lift in tempo and six straight points from Webster saw the Breakers ahead by seven midway through the second and although Sydney pulled level at the major break, a huge third quarter proved the winning of the contest.
The Breakers enjoyed a 32-18 advantage in the period as Webster took over. And, although Sydney showed some late signs of life, the shooting guard ensured the Breakers rediscovered their winning touch. Breakers 93 (C Webster 38, T Abercrombie 14, T Wesley 11). Kings 83 (T Garlepp 25, J Cadee 14, R Carter 14). HT: 38-38.