A miraculous 35-foot game-winning shot by Mitch Norton has capped off another New Zealand Breakers fourth quarter meltdown.
A week after they went scoreless in the last six minutes to lose to Melbourne United, the Breakers have blown an 11-point lead with two and a half minutes remaining to loseto the Illawarra Hawks, 84-82.
It was a spectacular finish at the North Shore Events Centre, and a spectacular loss for the Breakers, who fall to 15-12 on the season, and remain in fourth on the Australian NBL ladder. This was their third consecutive loss, and puts them seriously at risk of a semifinal showdown with Melbourne, who have bested them on the last two occasions.
With that in mind, the Breakers' playoff hopes look dicey, considering they have struggled to put together 40 strong minutes of basketball in the recent weeks. They have been hot and cold, and it was perfectly encapsulated tonight, where they mixed the superb with the awful.
The superb came in the form of power forward Finn Delany, who poured in a career-high 23 points on 8-13 shooting, and added seven rebounds. Inserted early after Mika Vukona (two points in 21 minutes) struggled, Delany joined forces with Shea Ili and Jordan Ngatai as the depleted Breakers bench kick-started a big run.
Down 11-15, all of a sudden the Breakers had a 30-15 lead, with the bench trio making up for the absences of Alex Pledger and Kirk Penney to give the Breakers a lead that seemed insurmountable.
That was surely the case when the Breakers led by 11 with 2.27 to play, but they once again caught a case of fourth quarter blues.
Just as quickly as the Breakers' run earlier in the game, the Hawks came storming back. From 78-67, the score became 78-74, before Rhys Martin hit three free-throws to make it a one-point game. The collapse continued, as a steal off the resulting inbounds pass saw Martin score again, putting the Hawks in front, somehow.
Ili responded, but a Nick Kay layup put the Hawks back in front, as the game ebbed and flowed. With five seconds left, and down by one, Delany air-balled a corner three, but Rob Loe was there to tip it in to put the Breakers back in front.
Surely, that was enough to seal the win? Not according to Norton, who banked home an improbable shot to stun the home crowd, and the Breakers.
