Henare looks for Breakers to rebound from defeat
‘‘Unacceptable’’, was Breakers coach Paul Henare’s succinct assessment of a soft second-half rebounding performance that gifted Melbourne United game one of their Australian NBL semifinal on Saturday night.
After being locked 43-43 at halftime of the best-of-three series opener at Hisense Arena, the home side took control over the back end of the contest to ease out to an 88-77 victory that puts it in a prime position to advance to the grand final.
Game two is at Auckland’s Spark Arena tonight, with the Breakers needing to snap a threegame losing streak at the hands of United to send the series back to a deciding third contest in Melbourne next Sunday.
On Saturday’s showing, in which they failed to stop Melbourne star Casper Ware scoring a season-high 33 points, and struggled with fouls early and rebounding late, it’s a long way back.
A 23-16 second-half rebounding advantage for Melbourne over the closing two quarters, including eight second-chance snaffles off the offensive glass, was most concerning for Henare who demanded an improvement tonight back home (7.30pm tip).
‘‘Unacceptable,’’ said Henare. ‘‘You do a good job and contest shots, and give up long rebounds for open threes or extra possessions that make you defend for another 14 seconds. It’s the playoffs and for us to give up those opportunities in the second half and give them eight offensive rebounds, it’s how we lost the game when we were here last time.’’
Henare was more fatalistic over the many borderline fouls called on his team, especially on skipper Mika Vukona, who managed just 17 minutes before exiting with his fifth infringement.
Vukona’s fouls were particularly costly, with the Breakers having to play without backup power forward Finn Delany who was ruled out with concussion symptoms from a head knock suffered while on duty with the Tall Blacks. The visitors were minus-6 on fouls, and minus-9 on free-throw attempts for the game.
‘‘I thought there were some soft calls against us,’’ said Henare.
‘‘The lopsided foul count ... it’s nothing new. We’ve got to be better and make that adjustment. I thought for a playoff game there was far too much soft stuff [called].’’
Less concerning for Henare and point guard Edgar Sosa was the 33 points scored by Ware, who was 13 of 29 from the floor and three of nine from deep.
‘‘I know the 33 is going to stand out but he took 29 shots to get it. That’s a hell of a lot of shots,’’ said Henare.
Added Sosa, who was held to just 10 points on four-of-11 shooting: ‘‘We’ll live with that, as long as we contain everyone else. We can’t let him get 33 and others sprinkle in what they do as well.’’
The Breakers have a lot to fix in a short time. Getting Delany’s energy back will help. Kirk Penney took just four shots (making three). One of the best shooters the game has seen can’t bow out on that note.
Sosa, Tom Abercrombie (5pts,
2/7 FG), Rob Loe (0pts, 0/6 FG) and Alex Pledger (4pts, 1/5 FG and 10 rebounds) all have to be better. Shea Ili, the best Breakers on show with 16 points (7/9 FG) and five assists, and DJ Newbill (19 points, three boards, three assists, three steals) need to produce more of the same.
It’s not a lost cause. Back in
2010-11, en route to their first championship, the Breakers lost game one of their semifinal against the Perth Wildcats at home, and bounced back to claim the next two. It is time to ratchet up the desperation factor.