Blaze 113
The New Zealand Breakers unveiled a new method of reinforcing their Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) title favouritism last night by working overtime to outlast the Gold Coast Blaze 125-113.
There were anxious moments down the stretch - the Breakers' seven-match winning streak looked in serious jeopardy when the Blaze recovered from a Breakers first half blitz to hold a six-point lead with less than two minutes to elapse in regulation.
Clutching his mini whiteboard, an animated Andrej Lemanis mapped out the last-minute strategies; the head coach could be forgiven for his tense demeanour after witnessing his side surrender a 15-point halftime lead.
However, once Lemanis issued his instructions the players, according to go-to man Kirk Penney, were fairly relaxed at their predicament.
"We were pretty much just chuckling and smiling, knowing we'd been here before," he said.
"There's a few of us in our 30s now, we've been around the block a few times and we realise the game is never over.
"Time and again in practice we have those situations where you're down and have to make plays."
Penney and another seasoned pro CJ Bruton personified that calmness by dragging the Breakers level at 101-101 with coolly taken three-pointers.
Then with 2.4 seconds left in the first five minute period of overtime - and the Blaze leading by two - Kevin Braswell picked out Thomas Abercrombie to sink a deadlock-making lay-up.
The Breakers finally pulled clear in double overtime, Penney started the ball rolling with his sixth long range bucket, accuracy from beyond the arc highlighted his season-high 35-point haul.
Penney never doubted the Breakers were capable of equalling the club's regular season record of 18 victories despite the Blaze catching fire in the third and fourth quarters.
"We expect to win every time we go out of court," he explained.
"We had some unbelievable plays down the stretch."
Breakers assistant coach Dean Vickerman described Penney's three-point collection as among the best he seen, though the Tall Black was more constrained.
"I just felt like I had a good rhythm. I'm glad a lot of those fade away step backs went in," he said.
Fellow shooting guard Bruton weighed in with 20 crucial points, while forward Gary Wilkinson created the initial impetus before taking an enforced break early in the second quarter when experiencing foul trouble.
The American returned to increase his haul to 21 before fouling out before the late shift got underway.
Mika Vukona was also a spectator for the grand finale while the Blaze's big men Ira Clarke and Chris Goulding were also on the bench when the Breakers orchestrated the decisive momentum swing.
"It was awesome for the group to pull it out when we had so many guys in foul trouble or fouled out," Penney said.
"Our depth is excellent and that's going to help us down the stretch in the play-offs.
"Ten guys play good minutes every night so it's taking a lot of pressure off the senior guys - it enabled us to play double overtime and still have energy."
Blaze guard James Harvey, who top scored with 27, rued a defeat that drops them two places outside the finals frame in sixth.
"The game was there for the taking. In regulation when we got six up that was where we probably had it until they had those two big threes to get back into it."
Harvey hoped the Blaze could reignite their play-offs push in Auckland on Wednesday.
"The good thing it was a tough game for both teams, we're both flying back and we don't need too much preparation," he said.
"We know what they do, and they know what we do."
- NZPA
