Fast Break Report #3: Mika’s Miserable Milestone vs Sydney (And We Might Have a Penney Problem)
NZ Breakers 78-92 Sydney Kings
Raise a glass for Mika Vukona, 300 games for the Breakers. He’s the captain and he’s a champion, a crucial part of the foundation of everything this club has achieved and continues to achieve. So here’s to you, lad. Cheers.
But, umm… it coulda gone a lot better for the great man here. Sure, he doesn’t care for individual accolades and all that but missing a couple free throws and putting up a goose egg in the scoring column can’t have been in the plans. Nor the early fouls that kept him under nine minutes in the first two frames against the Sydney Kings and only half that much in the second half. Really not ideal, that. He did pop four assists in that short spell of time though, showing you can never completely keep him down.
Vukona’s stakes mirrored those of the team’s. It didn’t start that way though. It started with Kirk Penney and Ben Woodside making long jumpers, Tom Abercrombie too. In fact within two and a half minutes they’d already shot out to an 11-5 lead. They, ah… were outscored by 14 points in the rest of the half.
How did things turn so drastically? Turnovers, matey. They committed five of them from the moment Kirk made that basket to take their score to 11 until the next made field goal – Tom Abercrombie on the jump for a deuce. You cannot be so risky with the ball at this level. The impression was that they were looking to improve on their looks but sometimes good enough is good enough. Penney in particular seemed too hesitant to take the open look which was surprising. More on him later because there’s plenty more to say.
First, however, it has to be said that before any criticism gets loaded upon the Breakers, the Sydney Kings were bloody impressive. Like, seriously good. Four of their starters scored at least 13 points and they got 17 off the bench from Josh Powell. You may have heard the hype about that Powell lad, he’s won a couple of NBA titles as a depth dude on the LA Lakers and the man can play ball, that’s for sure. He shot 8/11 in this game and the Breakers had no answer. Nothing extravagant about what he does, his shots are selective and he defends by the numbers. When you’re as clever and experienced as he is that’s all it takes. Bear in mind that after being waived by the Houston Rockets in 2014, Kevin McHale kept him around as a player development coach that season – which gives you a fair indication of what he has to offer in the top few inches.
But you can’t dwell on Powell, they also had Greg Whittington scoring 22 points on 7/10 shooting with 7 rebounds as well. Jason Cadee didn’t have the best day off the trigger but he still hounded like he always does and then Brad Newley, the Aussie international, is also there – returning home after close to a decade as a sharpened pro in Europe. That guy is a proper player. 13 points from 8 shots, with 4 rebounds and 6 assists.
That’s without even mentioning that they’re coached by the greatest Aussie basketballer of all time in Adam Gaze (well, arguably…) and, OH YEAH THEY ALSO HAVE KEVIN LISCH, THE DEFENDING LEAGUE MVP! He scored 14 points and made roughly zero poor reads on the court.
It was lucky for Tom Abercrombie because if there’s one thing that Sydney it’s that their backcourt has a few years behind it and TA figured out that his first movement was too quick for Newley to compete with. Stand him up them blow by him, it worked a couple times though he couldn’t always capitalise. Still, that was the only reliable form of offence that the Breakers had, other than getting to the free throw line and you know how that tends to go for them. Abercrombie made 5/6 though, perhaps he’s edging out of the doldrums finally.
Trouble was there was no room. Watch that Sydney team and see how well they play as a five-man unit. They’re all in constant motion, they don’t slip on the guys they’re meant to be marking and everyone works in harmony with everyone else. Smoother than Barry White on a Saturday night. The Breakers shooters couldn’t find the separation to shoot off the pass and as soon as they went to the dribble, a help defender came across to enclose them. No room around the hoop.
Hence the turnovers, hence a few ugly shots. Sydney then fall back on their patient offence earning good enough looks to suit their percentage scorers and bingo bango – 50-42 at half time.
And then they didn’t score for the first two minutes of the third, the Breakers, meaning that the hole was dug even deeper. You wanna hear something horrific, they had 17 turnovers this game. Ten more than the Kings. Imagine the damage they might have done with ten extra possession. Okay, maybe not on this day, but ordinarily.
Right, time for some rotation observations. Finn Delany seems to be carving out a slight place towards the end of the first half as an energy dude. He made a crushing put-back dunk and cashed in on that with a few extra minutes as a result. There was one gorgeous revers bounce pass into the path of Isaih Tueta but the little guy was thoroughly blocked at the rim by Michael Bryson. Speaking of Tueta, there was no sign of him until the third quarter. He played fewer mins than Delany. There were plenty more sets with Corey Webster and Kirk Penney sharing the court here, which sure sounds like a good idea.
Then again, perhaps not. Webster took a long time to get off the duck this game and although he sprinkled some pleasant shots as the thing went on, trying to get the Breaks back into it, you couldn’t help but wonder if he ought to be taking on a larger role. Injury issues are one thing, but it’s not like he’s missing games. He’s the sort of player that benefits from taking a couple settler digs at the basket and he makes them first couple shots you know he’s gonna be in for a big one. He doesn’t get that chance so much playing off the bench and you could say Kirk Penney is more suited to that spot. Plus Webster is a confidence player and he’s not exactly thriving on the body language scale these days.
Webster scored 14 points shooting 5/11 (4/7 from 3pt). That’s solid. Nothing wrong with that except that he should be shooting more. Get him 15 shots a game and he will bank 15-20 points every night. Kirk Penney on the other hand… we may have a Kirk Penney problem. It’s not cool to say so but he looks old. Several times you saw him beaten for the first step. He’d turn down a 50/50 look to cut inside for a tad more space and he wouldn’t be quick enough to find it. The worst was as the game was heading towards its death throes and he was picked off for an inbounds pass by Whittington. Penney scored 8 points shooting 3/8. He did also get 7 boards and 3 assists so he’s hardly wasted space but Corey Webster probably needs to be the focal point of this team’s offence and coming off the bench that ain’t happening. All of those 8 points came in the first half. This is one of the go-to scorers and he’s blanked in the second half of a game his team is trailing in. That cannot happen.
It’s early enough in the season, with a rookie head coach and a new offence, that the issues with Penney can be pushed to the side for now, but keep a note that you’ve read this because, hate to say it, he really hasn’t looked very sharp yet.
The deficit never got within seven in the second half and by the end it bloated again as the home team got desperate. To be honest, the Breakers didn’t shoot poorly. 47% compared to 58%. They clearly didn’t keep the Kings from shooting poorly either but they rebounded well and were even for assists. Just too many turnovers and not enough getting to the free throw line.
Throw some love out for Abercrombie who was again the Breakers’ best player, scoring 17 points. Ben Woodside was pretty handy as well, beginning to flex his scoring ability with 10 points, 4/6 FGs (as well as 6 assists and 5 turnovers). Good from him. Then Akil Mitchell also showed more confidence around the hoop as he slammed a couple through – there was this one thunderous dunk in particular. Phoar - it’s still echoing. 13 points and 5 rebounds for him. Alex Pledger did some fine things too for 10pts/7reb.
Yet in his 300th game the stat line for Mika Vukona read:
- 12:35 MINS - 0 PTS - 0/2 FG – 0/2 FT – 1 REB – 4 AST – 2 TO – 1 STL – 4 PF
You’re telling me the Breakers struggled to defend in a game that Mika only played a shade over a quarter of? Sounds about right. See y’all again on Saturday night in Brisbane.
By the way, NBL.com got the coaches to pick the winners of the NBA this upcoming season and they all picked the Golden State Warriors – except for Andrej Lemanis who happily sat on the bench and said he only wanted to support the Aussies. Paulie had this to say:
“I’m going for the Warriors – they are just too deep! They have multiple players playing well at the right time. Plus, they beat OKC so they must be good!”
Yeah, yeah… everyone’s picking the Warriors…
Stocks:
Movin’ On Up Like Curtis Mayfield – Gotta say that after looking like they weren’t about to offer all that much in terms of points in that first game, the two US imports really showed some stuff here. Akil Mitchell with a few dunks that brought back memories of Charles Jackson and Ben Woodside with some silky layups. That’s what we wanna see.
Goin’ Down Slow Like Howlin’ Wolf – Enough digital ink has been spilled on the sad milestone of Mika and the undercover poor start for Mr Penney. Two all-time legends of the club. Hmm.
Key Stat
Kirk Penney has scored 28 points in three games, shooting at 9/29 from the field. He’s made three combined field goals in the second half of those games. 6/19 in first halves, 3/10 in second halves.
Play of the Game
He’s a very unlucky cut as far as the MVP points go so Akil can have the play of the day instead. Because this was friggin’ awesome.
Season MVP Standings
Tom Abercrombie – 8
Ben Woodside – 4
Mika Vukona – 2
Match MVP Points
Tom Abercrombie – 3
Ben Woodside – 2
Corey Webster – 1
Up Next
Saturday, 8.30pm: Brisbane Bullets vs NZ Breakers, Brisbane Convention Centre (NZT)