NZ Breakers 106
Southeast Melbourne Phoenix 75
During the week, NZ Breakers coach Mody Maor laid down a challenge to his side.
With their chances of clinching a playoff sport hanging in the balance, Maor said winning six of their last eight games would give them a good chance of post-season basketball.
Last night, his side responded accordingly.
Putting their 29-point loss to Sydney in their most recent game well behind them, the Breakers led the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix from start to finish in Auckland, topping the visitors 106-75.
Every win from now on will be important for the Breakers, particularly ones like this against teams sitting above them and fighting for the lower seeds in the playoffs. The race home will be tight over the coming weeks, with just two wins separating fourth from ninth.
The Phoenix came in without the services of star big man Alan Williams, who was at Spark Arena merely as a cheerleader with his season ended by a knee injury. Averaging about 11 rebounds per game, Williams is the league leader on the glass, while he is the Phoenix’s second-leading scorer at about 17 points per game.
They still managed to outrebound the Breakers, but the hosts took advantage of the absence of Williams’ scoring threat, with Mitch Creek forced to do the heaving lifting and the hosts largely able to shut down the other options. The visitors weren’t helped by the whistle, either, with four of their players fouling out.
Parker Jackson-Cartwright set the tone early with his effort on defence, hassling ballhandlers and closing out well on shooters,
The Breakers held the Phoenix scoreless for almost half of the first quarter, with the visitors missing their first five shots before Creek got them going.
That saw the hosts run out to an 11-point lead early, moving the ball well, getting looks inside and drawing fouls as well.
It was a team effort in the first quarter with six of the eight players to take the court scoring, and a Jackson-Cartwright three as time expired capped off a strong start to proceedings.
They were slow to get going again after the break, with the Phoenix scoring the first six points of the quarter to begin to chip away at the deficit.
Creek put the Phoenix on his back and made sure they didn’t completely lose touch with the Breakers, but a strong quarter from Anthony Lamb ensured the hosts maintained their 15-point buffer at halftime.
Play was evenly contested after the change of ends in what was a long period drawn out by plenty of whistles, but some silly fouls from the Breakers late in the quarter saw the Phoenix close the gap by one with 10 minutes to go.
But the Breakers went on with the job from there, pushing their lead out and notching up a strong win to get their season back on track.
NZ Breakers 106 (Anthony Lamb 31 points, Mantas Rubstavicius 15)
Southeast Melbourne Phoenix 75 (Mitch Creek 27 points, Gorjok Gak 13)
1Q: 25-10. HT: 52-37. 3Q: 77-63.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
The Breakers lost their eighth game in a row in Hobart.