Basketball: Five factors that turned a season into a title

Breakers Captain Paul Henare with the trophy after his team took out the Taipans. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Coping without Kirk

Although he is the best player
in the league, the absence of Kirk Penney for five of the first six games of the season as he chased an NBA contract was actually good for the Breakers.

It forced others such as Tom Abercrombie and Kevin Braswell to step up, made them develop a game plan that wasn't totally reliant on Penney's shooting and, when they won five of them, proved they could notch up victories without him. When he returned, it became a matter of Penney fitting into the system rather than others fitting in with him.

The retiring type

Paul Henare isn't among the best players at the Breakers - even he would admit that - but he is one of the most popular. The veteran point guard has seen everything at the North Shore club, both good and bad, considering he is the only foundation player left. When he announced he was retiring at the end of the season to become Bay Hawks coach, it galvanised his team-mates. Even though they should do it for a number
of reasons, "do it for Pauli" became a familiar refrain.
The Breakers are a tight bunch - Henare has played a big role in that - and it helped enormously when it looked like their season was going
off the rails.

Losing to Perth

A lot can be learned in defeat and it was certainly true for the Breakers in their embarrassing 101-78 defeat to Perth in Auckland in the first of their three-game playoffs series.
The warning signs had been there, as they took their foot off the gas heading into the playoffs, but the fact they kept winning papered over those cracks. This defeat, however, brought about a massive change in attitude. They played with more physicality and aggression, particularly on defence, and took the game to the opposition rather than waiting for things to happen. They returned to the old, bad habits in game two against Cairns but turned things
around in Friday's decider.

The one-legged warrior

Mika Vukona's season looked over. He had a grade two medial ligament strain and hobbled just getting into his car. But, unknown to his team-mates, he planned to play in the must-win game in Perth. Their season was on the line and they needed Vukona. He somehow passed a fitness test and his mere presence gave his team-mates a lift. Vukona pulled in a scarcely-believable 10 rebounds (six offensive) and scored four points in that match - key numbers when combined with Penney's season-high 38 points - in helping them to a season-defining 93-89 win. They easily accounted for Perth in game three 99-83.

CJ's triple treat

The Breakers had their noses in front throughout in the winner-take-all playoff game against Cairns but they struggled to kill off the Taipans. That was until CJ Bruton landed back-to-back three-pointers to give his side a commanding 68-47 lead with 5 minutes 25 seconds remaining. Bruton has played a reduced role on the court this season, but the 35-year-old dreadlocked one often knows when to make his contribution count and this was the moment. The Breakers knew then they had finally won it and it allowed them to enjoy the final stages of the match (the PA immediately played the Kool & the Gang classic Celebrate Good Times) and enabled coach Andrej Lemanis to empty his bench and give some of the youngsters a taste of finals basketball. Celebrate they did.