NZ Breakers 76-85 Cairns Taipans

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A poor third quarter condemned the Breakers to a second consecutive loss, dropping them to 2-2 to start the season. The Cairns Taipans, meanwhile, remain unbeaten having won all five of their games so far.

Alex Pledger returned to the starting line-up, while Corey Webster celebrated his 100th game in the ANBL. Playing at the North Shore Events Centre for the first time in 2014/15 it was a slow start once more from the Breakers, struggling to hit their shots and even throwing possession away a couple times trying to get in close to the rim. It was frustrating, and Cedric Jackson expressed that pretty loudly as he made his way to the bench for a breather. However a couple Rhys Carter triples had the home team in the lead at the end of the first quarter – the only jump shots they made in that spell.

The rebounding was pretty good, at least in the first half. Mika Vukona topped 2000 for him ANBL career and the defence was especially dominant. There were troubles when Cairns were able to attack them quickly but when forced to work into a possession, NZB kept them to tough shots. Which they made a few of, but you gotta live with that. The Breakers led by 6 at the half, having kept Cairns to just 32 points. Only 7 fouls from the home team was a big part of that - Cairns only shot two free throws in the entire half.

The fouling came back in the third though and Mika and Tai Wesley were the usual suspects. Cairns were fouling plenty too, but the Breakers couldn’t hit a FT to save themselves. 7/15 at the half, Cedric and Tommy being the biggest culprits. All but one Taipan had multiple fouls by the end of the third quarter. Yet they came rocketing back in that time, thanks largely to the dynamic efforts of import Scottie Wilbekin (who finished with 24/6/9). That guy is one hell of a player. Stephen Weigh weighed in (ha!) with 20 points himself.

A six point lead became a deficit mighty quickly as the Taipans started the second half with a 17-2 run. Things got sloppy and the rebounds dried up. Cairns must have had their half time oranges because they came out with much more intensity, passing the ball with more purpose and getting hot from the field. Cedric did some nice things to aid the fight back, as did Rhys Carter, but the team was 2-13 from 3 excluding Carter’s numbers and from the field shot only 42%. And let’s not even get started on the 10 missed free throws on the night.

Although they clawed things back to three at a stage, the Breakers never got in a roll offensively. Corey Webster’s jump shot was off all day and with a little over 2 mins to play, they were down 10. A dagger blow corner three with 40 secs left was the end of things.

Stocks:

Movin’ On Up like Curtis Mayfield: Ekene Ibekwe had a good game. He finished well around the rim and he picked up a few boards. 15 & 5 he had, with only 2 fouls. That’s a lovely little contribution off the bench there. Rhys Carter too (14 pts) rediscovered that shooting touch he had in the opener. Without him, this wouldn’t have been close.

Goin’ Down Slow like Howlin’ Wolf: Corey Webster shoots a lot. But 5/17 was not the best way to bring up a century of games. He feels like a heat check kinda guy and the Breakers are gonna struggle when he’s off if this is the precedent. Tai Wesley only made one field goal in 14 minutes, he’s the type of guy who’ll dominate down low with a good matchup, but the last two games that hasn’t been the case and he’s been exposed a bit. And Reuben Te Rangi, for the second time this season, played at least 10 mins without taking a shot. His three point stuff is streaky but they could have used it here.

Key Stat:

Heading into it with a 6 point lead, the Breakers were outscored 29-15 in the third. Cairns almost matched their first half total of 32 in that single quarter.