Breakers ordinary but Melbourne worse
NZ Breakers 88 Melbourne 81
The beauty of a make or miss basketball league is that you don’t actually have to shoot the ball well to win; you just need to be better than the opposition.
The Breakers made the most of that in their 88-81 victory over defending Australian NBL champions Melbourne United last night.
The Breakers shot at a 41 per cent clip and again struggled from the free throw line, but with Melbourne shooting at just 38 per cent, the Breakers weren’t made to pay.
To be fair, the Breakers put on an improved performance from their dismal outing in Auckland against Brisbane on Friday night. However, they were again reliant on individual performances to carry the load.
New addition Tai Wesley stepped up in a big way against his former team, leading the Breakers charge with 25 points — 21 of which came in the first half.
Captain and fellow forward Thomas Abercrombie played as a productive secondary option with 16 points on the night which saw him surpass Kirk Penney as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.
After leading the team in scoring in their opener, guard Corey Webster couldn’t find his range. He drained just three of 12 shot attempts and continued to turn over the ball at a high rate.
However, what Webster lacked on offence, import guard Patrick Richard compensated for. In 26 minutes off the bench, the 28-year-old posted 15 points from just eight shots.
While the shots were, for most of the night, failing to find the inside of the hoop, the Breakers were giving themselves plenty of chances on the offensive glass. A weakness of their performance against Brisbane, the Kiwi side turned things around rapidly and claimed 23 of their 48 rebounds on the offensive end.
After the way things started, it looked like Breakers fans would be in for another long night. On the opening possession, the Kiwi side missed five shots close to the basket in a row before Melbourne secured a rebound and drained a three at the other end.
It took Melbourne less than a minute to hit their first three of the night. It took the Breakers almost three quarters before their first long ball dropped.
Despite struggling from deep, Wesley’s impact in the post was being put to good use as the Breakers went to the Guam international repeatedly with great success.
His production kept the Breakers in the match early and carried them to a halftime lead.
Following the standard set by Wesley, the Kiwi side went on with the job in the second half and were able to close out the win.
The Breakers’ next game is home to the Sydney Kings at Spark Arena on Sunday.
New Zealand Breakers 88 (T. Wesley 25, T. Abercrombie 16, P. Richard 15) Melbourne United 81 (C. Goulding 22, D. Barlow 15, M. McCarron 14).