Breakers compared with NBA’s Spurs
THE comparison was flattering but fair from beaten Melbourne United coach Dean Demopoulos as he labelled the New Zealand Breakers the San Antonio Spurs of the Australian NBL.
That was the unequivocal message from Melbourne’s ex-NBA coach after his league leaders were well beaten 80-69 by the Breakers at Vector Arena on Sunday – taking the 7-4 Kiwi club just one loss behind the 9-3 visitors who have now dropped three on the bounce.
Led by a world-class shooting display from Corey Webster who had a league-best and career-high 39 points, including a dazzling seven of nine from three-point country, the Breakers enacted the payback that had driven them ever since their controversial defeat in Melbourne on November 8, sealed by a final seconds referee howler.
Demopoulos was clearly impressed, though he stopped short of labelling it a ‘‘rivalry’’.
‘‘I thought it was two pretty good teams knocking heads, more than anything else, and one team that’s done a whole lot more together. That’s the reason why you look up here and it looks like San Antonio. The banners tell you why you’re in the kind of fight you’re in,’’ he said.
‘‘I don’t think it’s a rivalry yet. We’ve got to win some games and get into the type of post-season play that they do before it becomes a rivalry. Right now it’s pretty one-sided.
‘‘They’re champions of the league for four of the last five years, and they come out pretty fired up it looks like to me by nature. That’s one of the elements of why they’re who they are.
‘‘The championship is going to go through here until somebody does it. They’ve got the cup, and everybody else is thirsty [to drink from it] I guess.’’
Demopoulos, who has worked as an assistant coach with the Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers, stuck to the NBA theme when comparing Webster’s scoring prowess.
‘‘That’s a good analogy,’’ he said when asked if Webster was the NBL’s Steph Curry. ‘‘There are a lot of fine players in this league, but Corey is at the top of the list for sure. That was a great, great performance. I’ve seen Kobe [Bryant] get 60 on us, I’ve seen great players get high numbers, but that was about as quiet a 39 as I’ve seen. Very efficient. He had a hell of a game.’’
The Breakers, meanwhile, have refocused quickly on arguably the toughest challenge in the league as they head to Perth for a Friday matchup that will decide second spot on the table.
The big decision is whether power forward Tai Wesley will be fit to make the trip after missing the last four games following the birth of his baby and an appendix operation.
‘‘It’s a big maybe right now for me,’’ said coach Dean Vickerman of his sorely missed low-post presence. ‘‘He will definitely be right for the home game [against Perth on December 2], but he’s a big maybe for this one.’’
But Vickerman agreed that the perimeter-oriented Breakers offence could do with the paint presence provided by Wesley who scored 26 points in each of his last two outings.
‘‘The point that Tai put up in our review the other night was that the ball wasn’t going inside enough . . . I think he’s getting ready to come back, letting people know he’s ready to get some catches in the post.
‘‘It’s a good blend when we have that mixture of guards being really aggressive and being able to throw in to the post as well.’’