Basketball: Hecklers motivate Breakers' import

Kevin Braswell. Photo / Getty Images

Kevin Braswell didn't hear most of the abuse directed his way in the Breakers' game two double-overtime defeat in Cairns.

But what he did hear only made him more determined to guide the Breakers to victory in tomorrow's ANBL grand final series decider.

Braswell was the main target of the Taipans' court announcer, who harangued the American over the stadium PA system with sarcastic chants of "best six man in the league".

The taunt was a reference to the recognition Braswell received at the ANBL awards night when he was declared the league's best reserve.

At one stage when Braswell threw a pass out of court he was taunted with "best seventh man, maybe".

Braswell didn't hear much of it, and what he did hear only served to fire him up, with the player dubbed "The Closer" nailing two crucial three-pointers late in the first period of overtime that seemed certain to have secured the title.

"When you hear somebody say something bad about you it definitely makes you pick your game up," Braswell said.

"I loved playing there. Playing in somebody else's gym you are going to get heckled.

"If you are an important piece to a team you are going to get a lot of people saying things.

"There was one guy sitting in the front row behind our bench who said 'you are not going to hit no game-winning shots here'. The last three that I hit that put us up four [points], I pointed straight to him.

"I thought it was over, I really thought it was over. It just so happened that Ron Dorsey hit two bigger shots."

Breakers court announcer Andrew Dewhurst doesn't target opposition players for abuse, but coach Andrej Lemanis said such behaviour was commonplace at at some clubs.

"Teams do different things but most of the time we are pretty oblivious to it because we are so focused on what is going on on the court," Lemanis said.