They have probably the worst coach in the league I think.

Last night for example

Henare 21 Minutes
Boucher 22 Minutes

Rickert 20 Minutes
Abercrombie 22 Minutes
Forman 21 Minutes

During the season those averages are pretty much the same with Rickert getting about 25 minutes. Abercrombie and Forman ended up having foul trouble last night but the point is they get subbed way too much.

You can't have Boucher and Henare both playing those sorts of minutes as they offer nothing in offense! If they had Penney then the other benefits they bring is valuable but without Penney they require scoring!

CJ should play 30 minutes at point and Henare 10 minutes. I think Boucher should only get 10 minutes also unless his doing well or the other players are in foul trouble. Rickert should be getting 30 minutes a game!

they played less becuase they were in foul trouble all game hence they had to use henare etc more!

wasportsfan1 they are pretty much the average minutes for the season. My point is the coach subs far to frequently and at times has Boucher and Henare on at the same time which in 40 minutes gives the team 7 points.

they need a new coach!

This foul trouble thing coaches have with there players is overated IMO They sub them out, and th game is done anyways, because they have zero factors off the bench. Let the pro's play through it a bit. Schenscher has spent his whole career getting 2 qucim fouls, coming out, becoming a non factor, because he cools down. Yet he is one of those players who has proved he canb play through foul trouble consistantly. Keep the stars in and save the game more i reckon!

Unthinkable. How could we lose to a team that was on it's knees.
Cairns are supposed to shoot 36%, not us.
How in the world can Cairns attempt 35 free throws to our 10. Unbelievable.
We get delayed coverage tonight so I'll cast an eye over the game.
9 point quarter and 23 point half are lowlights that gave the sucker the break they were after.

Ronaldson had his worst shooting night ever. Rickert was quiet and as K James said its hard to figure why he isn't playing 30 minutes a night. He has been our most consistent performer.

Cairns could have won by plenty if they made some free throws and hit the odd 3.
Rychart held them together and got just enough help from Melzer and Mills to see them home.

Ronaldson's shooting was bad, he didnt look good taking the shots.

Cairns are 5-2 at home with wins over the top 3 teams (Perth, Wollongong and Adelaide). Hardly surprising that a Breakers team that has mediocre talent without Penney and an import were beaten there.

lets see where the Wildcats are after Sat night game at Gold Coast!

They rely way to much on shooting the 3 pointer, so if they are not hitting them they are in trouple and they fact they shoot so many, they aren't penetrating and getting to the line. I guess if your main big man is only playing 20 minutes then your not going to go to the line very much.

For most teams in the league, the three pointer is a more efficient shot than the two, and that is usually the case for NZ, who are normally an outstanding offensive team.

The interesting question is should they change their intricate offence until Penney returns and an import who can shoot arrives? That's a tough one and depends on the timeframes I suppose. Even if they lose to Townsville, they then have three straight at home meaning they will prob be 7-8 or 8-7.

If Penney comes back into that situation he just clicks back into the same system and no one really misses a beat. If things have changed significantly there is another adjustment period.

If it were up to me I would keep things as they are and get an import in quick smart (Lampley?).

It's like a box of chocolates

I think that using trueman more to soak up some of those fouls that you get when applying the D might have been more than useful. Scoring % was the issue as Breakers got plenty of shots plus 7 pts fr free throws to 27 pts fr free throws- tells the story.

KingJames - Boucher is having an excellent season. Have you been watching any of their games!? Same with Henare.

In this one, I think they copped a lot of weak calls by the refs. Ronaldson and Abercrombie were a bit average.

The other big impact was Rychart playing a brilliant game. He was hitting a lot of long twos.

Pretty horrible game to watch as a Breakers fan though.

Isaac, it was a wonderful game to watch being a Taipans fan. They've been doing it so tough for a while it was a well deserved boost to their confidence. I agree with the Brad, they are a team that are too reliant on the 3 that when that fails them, they crumble. CJ in particular, I've watched him shoot 7 consecutive 3's and make all of them, then I watched him do the complete opposite last night. NZ have the capability of completely scorching other teams, but only if their shots are successful.

Anon, H-A disparity does seem true for this season at least. Was forcing jumpshots too much last night.

Quote of the night:

"I think I've been a bit too unselfish at times this year" - Rich Melzer

God I hope that was a joke.

Saw the game and confirmed a couple of things.
Cairns defence has improved significantly.
Melzer finally started getting into low post.
Cairns looked like they have turned PG over to Williams. Still a little jittery for mine but quickness gets him out of bit of trouble and will only improve with game time.
Cairns when they got a few stops and ran looked a different team.Helped Dusty's game too.
Ronaldson worst than stats even.
Abercrombie from near POTW last week to non factor the other night.
We got cleaned out on the boards. Lemanis only wanted to go with one big through 2nd half and that was Ronaldson who couldn't get going.
Now we've got Crocs tonight. They will be licking their lips after the spanking we gave them over here.

NZ are way to reliant on shooting from outside when Rickert inside can have his way against most players inside and especially when we are currently one of the worst outside shooting teams in the league this season with some of the best shooters.
Lemanis needs to come up with a plan B and quick, against Perth we got the win with tight man 2 man d and shut them down at the perimeter and on offense we took it inside and got easy buckets.
Boucher doesn't need to score, what he provides is excellent defense and court vision to get open players open shots. Henare is playing a good backup role at the point and while he's not a scorer he plays good D and has a safe pair of hands.
NZ need Pledger and Penney back quick smart.

Funny how everyone was saying this season was gonna suck with stuff all teams and it's so far been awesome with plenty of surprises and close games

Agree Mystro.
The only inside game (Ronaldson effort aside) we attempted was when CJ posted up Williams twice in 3rd quarter, we got a short J and a foul going to hoop out of it then we drifted away from that.
We rely so heavily on CJ's unpredictability and scoring. He pretty much pulls the trigger at any old time and when he is not firing we don't have a backup.
Our defense was no where near as desperate as Perth and Cairns grew in confidence.
We shot the 3 ball OK it's just we missed so many other shots we were in catch up most of 2nd half.

the highlight for cairns was the defence they played as a unit,got some great stops.
also liked the 'renewed' freedom that individual players had in the revised offence(apart from the first 5 mins)
williams at 1 and skip at 2 is a much better balance but will hurt them up the other end against bigger teams.
nz should have used rickert more inside against crosswhite/melzer,at least to draw some fouls on them.
their offence looked confused and without purpose(other than the first option,3 ball)

lemanis looked to be out coached by rookie fearne,not a very good job by the boomers assistant.

Just not enough options to put up big scores at the moment, and the team is based around high scoring, so it is just a case of hanging tough until reinforcements arrive.

If Cairns can win 5 of their last 7 home games you would have to say the season was a success for them.

Granted Paul, but in this game we took 70 shots and only came up with 5 offensive boards, 3 by Rickert.
Boucher usually gets 5 on his own.
Effort level just wasn't there, and playing Ronaldson as only big through much of 2nd half, meant we weren't going to threaten offensive boards.

You could be right about hanging on. Come playoff time there isn't going to be much between 3rd and 6th. In fact playing 500 could well see a team qualify, such is the parity of league. Finishing 1/2 will be a huge advantage though.

If Cairns make double figures in W column they can count on an excellent season.

it's like the boys treat an away game as a holiday lol

I would say that still having a team here in Cairns is a success.
Be good to win some more home games and a few away games, bonus!
Great game to watch as a Taipans fan - the desire to play and play well was there all game.