Yep, I think Townsville can pick this up. Had more answers for them last time around than just Lazare & Trueman -> Wilkinson can fix.

the breakers will get their revenge. NZ by 6.

Pc back? Nz to continue on the way up, just.

I think NZ will continue to improve (and Pledger) and should just scrape past the Crocs, NZ by 6.

Youd have to pick Townsville at home but not much in it.

@ Anon:

Last time every Crocs pretty much got the better of his opponent at each position, but especially Pace and Blanchfield who dominated the 2/3 matchup with Corletto and Abercrombie on both ends of the floor.

When Pace has a smaller two guard on him (Corletto) he scores at will because his primary offensive option is his post game, so he just takes little guys like Corletto down to the right block and goes to work.

Kerron Johnson got his but no one else really fired for the Kiwis -- Breakers were taken completely out of their offense and only gathered 5 assists as a team.

Crocs just ran them out of the gym and took care of the ball...hardly any turnovers to NZ's many turnovers.

Also it should be mentioned that the Crocs didn't beat NZ by "so much". It was only a ten point game and was close most of the way. Crocs just had a big push on either side of 3/4 time on both ends of the court and held onto the lead from there.

Breakers were never really in it despite the score being close. Every time they went to make a run at the Crocs they'd cough the ball up and Townsville would get an easy score.
Totally outplayed at every position. Pledger had happy feet all night and everyone else looked like they were playing together for the first time.

Agreed Mystro. I wouldn't expect the game to follow the same script tonight, no matter the outcome. NZ would have done their homework...Crocs will always win when they force turnovers, it plays right into their fastbreak strategy. Take care of the ball and you'll take care of the Crocs. Townsville's half court defense is an abomination so if you can survive the early trapping attempts you'll generally be able to get into the paint and find a higj percentage look every time.

Also it should be mentioned Peter Crawford will be playing for the first time this season in this game. Should just fit right into the injured Djeric's spot in the rotation.

Okay, I recognise that NZ are in with a good shout here, but 1.42 favourites to Croc's 2.74 at Sportsbet?

I have a small bet on the Crocs given their odds. My other bets today were Melbourne's line against Wollongong and Goulding for MVP (paying $9).

Yeah its a pretty good bet for crocs at home against a team they have already beaten. Guess bookies have written them off even further after dropping two winnable games on the trot

If that's the case...Blanchfield will destroy Corletto and make him wish he never his butted his stupid metrosexually-haircutted noggin into the situation.

Having said that, Blanchfield has no post game so all of the damage will come from open threes and slashing (every three is open if Corletto is guarding someone 6'8"...especially when that someone shoots the ball at the blistering clip that Blanchfield does).

Markovic is just so fat & lazy on the defensive end that I don't see him getting the better of Johnson -- or anyone -- this time around. He plays good D in spurts only.

Corletto doesn't need to stop Blanchfield shooting if he can outpace him and then deny him the ball more often than not.

True Isaac.

Townsville really only has three players who can get runs on the board, and they are all pretty easily stopped:

Pace: cannot shoot to save himself. Dare him to.

Blanchfield: about as passive as you could be when you're 6'8" and the most athletic guy in the league not called James Ennis. Can score from anywhere and has a pure outside stroke, but more often than not he will choose to remain out of focus

Conklin: pretty easy to get into foul trouble, so just make sure you get whoever he is guarding lots of interior looks early and you'll have him riding the pine in no time.

I'm sorry, but how will Townsville stop The Chief?

Pledger has been playing great. The Breakers need to get him some touches early.
Last game against Townsville the Breakers did go to Pledger but his happy feet were an issue although he wasn't the only culprit. Abercrombie and Lazare also coughed up possession with travel calls against them.
To their credit Townsville didn't let NZ get into any sort of rhythm in that first game and the Breakers were chasing their tails at both ends of the court.

Hopefully in this game NZ can run some offensive sets with purpose and defend without fouling every possession.

Breakers bailing the Crocs out with free throws

Love it when nbl tv mobile app wont let you log in without an email address and password when you signed up with Facebook authentication.

how exactly do you cancel this shit and get a refund?

Well done Conklin for the BIGGEST flop of the season!

A real shambles at the moment, just pathetic to watch for the full 40 minutes.

So.

People tipping Breakers pretty confidently: can I ask what made everyone think adding Wilkinson and Crawford, whilst taking away Lazare/Trueman and Mirko, made New Zealand a 10pt better side in Queensland?

Yes, I know, 3-peat, but pretty clearly, that form is now gone and five rounds in we should not be letting last year's results colour our interpretations of this year's results.

We can further infer, after the 4th game of 90+ points conceded, an answer to NZB's D will have to be found. I can't see any team in a 40-min comp that concedes an average in excess of 90 will be able to maintain a .500 record and play finals.

Nathan, I just don't know what to think at this stage, the team on paper is one of the best in the comp, but results are just atrocious and the play is not fun to watch at all. It would be interesting to see how Drej would have coached this team and maybe, Vickerman should go back to running some of the stuff that's worked for the team over the years, instead of 'being his own person' (which is of course understandable, but it isn't working atm!!).

@Tyrell,

There were some big changes but we may be looking at a case where the team simply is not built correctly. A reversal of previous "champion team" over "team of champions" builds; you have the players on paper, but taken as a cohesive whole, there are deficiencies, particularly on D.

On the plus side for New Zealand, they did win the rebounds.

I agree with anon mentioning no Te Rangi- the kid can play. Deano is a great bloke and I'm hope he will be able to coach the team out of this rut, but it's gotta happen soon- the defense needs to improve big time but the offense isn't perfect either b.ob plays are at least effective)!

Ah well, another week, another game, MUST WIN
situations for the next month or so until back at .500!

Complain about the refs all you like fellow Breakers fans.

But the simple fact is that the Breakers can't play defence to save themselves.

Conklin had 33 points..he hit 14 field goals..He only got 5 of his points from the stripe (suggesting it was the Breakers terrible defence rather than the refs bailing him out).

Credit to the Crocs - they hit an unbelievable 28/29 from the Free Throw stripe!! That has to be some record.

Dennis has outcoached Vickerman again. The Crocs really showed the Breakers how to play defence.

Not sure of the Te Rangi situation:

Either he is carrying an injury or alternatively there may be a bit of disciplining/punishment going on there for outside behaviour?

Two Vector games, then a North Shore game.

Hosting Adelaide again will be dangerous, but should do it. I'd tip you to beat Townsville at Vector as well, but Melbourne at North Shore will be a big challenge.

3-0 in this home stretch is quite possible. I'd actually be surprised if it was any worse than 2-1.

Anon, should've been at the Sixers game. 26 fouls total, between both teams!

Wow, and we won that without PC... NZ really are shit without Andre.

Nathan, I wouldn't even be surprised if we went 0-3 despite all those games been at home.

Townsville proved tonight that that game 1 win was no fluke, and Dennis has a game plan that not only breaks us down, but it tears us to shreds.

Adelaide I believe are simply a better team. I can't see the Breakers been able to defend such a deep roster, and the same result when they first met wouldn't be surprising.

Melbourne: Again, based on tonight's performance, I can't see anyone who would be able to handle Goulding, Worthington or even someone like Walker.

@ Macdub,

I certainly wouldn't go into shock if NZB went 0-3, but Vector is a fortress, so will hard for Adelaide and Townsville to compete.

Reading your comments though, I'm trendign towards 1-2 maybe being the more likely result than 2-1.

People are underrating abercrombie's career plateau. Blanchfield is a better player than him right now, summer league invite or none.

He needs to take this team as his own ywt he refuses to work on his defense or ballhandling

Also macdub.

Been.

Being.

Look them both up in the old dictionary

Look it's not just vickerman. Lemanis was always a players' coach anyway so there is no telling what he would be getting from this group had he stayed. They are much younger and their dna is vastly different despite only a few personnel changes.

They banked too hard on Abercrombie taking the next step and its not looking like he will. In all honesty as a Townsville fan I dont see Blanchfield taking that step either. They are both waaaay too passive.

If you reach your mid twenties and you aren't great at creating your own shot at the basket off the dribble I just dont see this skill manifesting itself all of a sudden.

It's about being a student of the game from the get go. These are things you learn in your driveway as a kid. If you love the game and you are 6'8" with skill your life is pretty easy.

Blanchfield is a bit younger so that ceiling hasn't descended yet but both guys need to look at themselves and ask how much further they can get without some decent ballhandling ability, especially as their roles at each club will only increase.

I'm really starting to appreciate what Pledger brings but can't help but think if he played with more mongrel he would destroy opposition... Get bloody ball down to the big fella ffs!

As for Blanchfield/Abercrombie and their passiveness... Would having them stay around in the league so we can enjoy then for the next 10 years really be so bad? I think we have to just be happy when talented 6'8 athletes stick around.

As for the game, Markovic seems like a bust and I say that both as I have hardly seen him play well this season (besides his ball handling) and I was really impressed with Mitch Norton tonight and (in a previous post on here written about Te Rangi/Abercrombie) I think it wouldn't be the worst idea to put Norton in the starting 5 and after 3-4 minutes put Markovic on when we can see how the game is being officiated. Oh and Conklin was super

Whilst I'm at it, does anyone feel that starting a game of basketball could be like starting in the AFL (makes no difference if you start as long as you get your game time and you can be fresh as we've seen Jamar Wilson do well so far this season... Anyone else feel there are players that start currently that could benefit from coming off the bench once the game has settled down a bit and officiating is understood?

One last thing in 21:47 Jacob Holmes pulled down a single rebound, is this a sign of change of role or bad game or a huge positive that Crocs can win this season without last years (2nd) best rebounder grabbing his 8-12 boards a game?

Vukona threw some horrible passes.

Everyone stood around while Johnson got trapped.

No one really looked to create anything for anyone else short of passing the ball around the top.

Some of the worst defense I have ever seen, especially in transition.

I think Vickerman should have called a timeout in the first couple of minutes when the crocs were building that big lead.

The rest is on the players, do they give a shit?
"oh well 3 in a row is pretty good"
Guess they prob feel their jobs are safe regardless of how they go this season?

No mention of Boucher in the Breakers analysis. Pretty vital player. I would've thought Vukona was enough to cover given the rest of the roster, but maybe not. Maybe that plus Jackson gone has tipped them over.

I love the way games are being called, your team needs to adjust and deal with it. Much more entertaining this year. Melbourne and Adelaide played straight up hands out last night and it was a great game to watch.

NBL refs are going to be pretty poor no matter what the mandate is. It wasn't consistent before and it isnt now. You just gotta live with it.

It's becoming more apparent that the reffing is terrible every time the Breaker lose!

Exactly anon. Nothing wrong with 9 of the Crocs ten players. We go two deep at every position and their is plenty of flexibility and balance.

Swap out Rusty for a starting calibre 5 and you have a ball club.

Too right Mick, Rusty giving up his place for Nevill and you would be expecting to make play offs as Shawn Dennis has got his team really working together and the rebounding issue of last year seems less of an issue.

@ anon, agree about Mitch not being vocal enough but if a starting gig is reward for being vocal then how could that not give him the incentive to improve his game and leadership

I think next year we should throw him in the deep end and start him. He's only 19 or 20 but other than his woeful shooting he is ready. What do you do though when its a problem with form instead of practise? He needs to improve the whole mechanic.

His shooting has definitely improved this year, but I think he should stay as an energy guy off the bench even with his minutes increasing. Having a high IQ guy like Markovic is ideal while Mitch learns that side of things.

In terms of guards this is one of the toughest leagues in the world, I would say top three or four, so it's important not to ask too much of him too soon.

Yeah but you cant go around thinking like that. You still have to plan for the future. If this team keeps playing hard like they did against the breakers people will return. Not in droves but you'll see a slow return. As ive said elsewhere though the club needs to get more creative with how they get bums on seats tho. Cairns for example used to give away empty seats to fill the stadium...people obviously enjoyed it so they dont need to any more.

Well that cant hurt either...