Gee....this will be the real test for the Breakers. Lose this one and they might as well forfeit the Cairns game.

Lots of pressure on the Breakers and none on the Crocs. All the Crocs have to do is give a bit of lip on court and make the Breakers doubt themselves even more than they already seem to do. Breakers are 40% on the road and Crocs are 40% at home.

Crocs with nothing to lose and at home will be tough, very tough.

BUT, The Crocs need someone who will put their stones on the line and step up. The stage is set for a young hero like Kay to take about 20 rebounds and a young gun like Maynard to have a defensive blinder on Webster.

Breakers might fall over the line....

Breakers should win. They looked better against the Hawks so they should beat the Crocs!

NZ might sort their shit for Vickermans departure and pull together to send him out on high, or they'll cough and stumble and make it look a lot harder than it needs to be.

Breakers look like a shell of their former selves. Getting blown out early in Townsville.
The Crocs are hustling while NZ have zero rhythm.

Breakers look awful.

The way they've been playing they don't deserve a spot in the top 4

Cairns and NZ both not making the semis would just go to show how much talent has come into the league this year vs last.

Yeah, both teams have lost a key import, but outside of that feature a whole lot of carryovers from last year and figured to be two of the better teams again this year.

Wow, NZ have no D!

Lol @ shawn dennis!

Still not sure I trust the Crocs not to choke on this lead, but so far so good ...

Go you Crocs.

LOL you would think Fox would have learnt to keep the mics away from Dennis by now!

Crocs could do worse than bringing both Jett and Samhan back next year, IMO.

Stick a fork in the Fakers! They're cooked!!

Steindl is a beast.

He will be league MVP in a year or two.

Steindl could be a Boomer if he played with consistent aggression IMO, he's got a super consistent shooting form from outside. Just seems to fade into the background too frequently.

good to see him released from just standing in the corner for a Trey. He has a lot more on offer as we are finding out.

Angus agree. Especially considering their probably pretty cheap. Good value.

Can't believe what's happened to us. Talk about a fall from grace. Atonishing. One thing missing is that we don't have those specialist/very good defensive players we've had in the past - Everybody wants to play matador defence and worry about scoring.

Man the Breakers are flaccid, and that's the best word to describe them because they were never UP for this game tonight.

It seems like Charles Jackson wants to be that Ibekwe-type of guy, but he is nearly a guaranteed foul against anytime an opposing big posts him up. Sometimes you just gotta give up two points when you're beat because you being on the court is more valuable to your team than 2 points given up.

SAMHAN!!

The big sheik is a KEEPER.

breakers are done and even if by some miracle they make it to the playoffs teams like Perth and the Hawks would tear the apart on current form.

Breakers, just embarassing - has to be more to it that simply a form slump!

Anyone else notice Ced Jakson middle finger to someone on the bench as he got fouled off?

Lack of depth has hurt the Breakers. Shane Macdonald possibly the worst signing in Breakers history, Te Rangi has been terrible shouldn't get a contract next year, Bartlett was good at the start of the season but coming off the bench didnt get enough minutes/same looks. Wesley is to selfish and Pledger tries but his toe injury has hurt his career (to think a few years back they didn't resign Wilkinson so Pledger could be a starter).

Vukona looks like he has run out of gas, Charles Jackson is to foul prone and Ced Jackson has shown no compsure what so ever this year

Mass cleanout in order

Import*/NZ or Aus PG (Lindsay Tait or Kenney maybe..)
Webster/Bartlett
Abercrombie/NZ or Aus SF
Vukona/NZ or Aus PF
Import*/Pledger

Agree on McDonald, cannot fathom what he was meant to bring to the team! SEABL at best.

TBH Charles Jackson has been the glue this season, his enthusiasm has got them a few games and kept the other rolling when they were winning

Abercrombie, Vukona, CJ Jackson, Te Rangi, all down on last season and Wesely after his injury hasn't been great after looking really good start of the season.

As for Webster, was the MVP there for a while, now the guy couldn't look less interested - amazing!


This season I think they've lacked a Dillion Boucher type figure, no one one the team appears to have a high basketball IQ or at least playing like they have one!

Rip Breakers

I am simply shocked by the current predicament that the Breakers find themselves in.

This is a team so accustomed to winning or at the very least being competitive. I would given them a good chance to 4 peat if it wasn't for the Cedric out - Kerron Johnson In situation.

How did things get so bad?

Vukona seems to have lost a lot of his influence over the team. I saw him like Kevin Garnett was to the Celtics, not just the rebounding a D he does himself but he makes others accountable on the team too. Thats not there anymore.

Cedric's care factor has reduced a notch but he can still do it all.

There is obviously some behind the scenes stuff going on. For the Sixers sake I hope they stay 5th BUT its a bit sad to see such a successful club go into such a dive when there is so much talent.

When your best is screwing there own over... it will cause some issues. Bad luck I'm not saddened by there demise, I just hope the 36ers get more than 1 stand out game from big bad Ebe Eri and they make the playoffs

There is no plan b on offense and they have their heads down at the other end as a result.
Cedric is not finishing at the rim this season where as in previous years he made a lot of those contested layups and teams are fighting over the screens or double teaming Corey Webster.
Shane MacDonald and Rueben TeRangi have contributed next to nothing and Mika
Vukona is on his last legs.
In previous years they had multiple outside shooters who could spread the floor yet this season only Webster, Bartlett and Abercrombie have been consistent (ish) with the occasional offering from Wesley went left wide open.

Ced Jackson/ Tai Webster
Cory Webster/Bartlett
Abercrombie/Bailey
Fotu/Loe
Import/Pledger

I would happily have Charles Jackson back, he plays with effort and would be a heap better having a season under his belt.

IMO, Te Rangi is "stale" i.e. "no longer able to perform well or creatively because of having done something for too long." His stats in 13-14 season were 5.4ppg on 66% FG (30/45) and 41.7 % 3pfg (25/60) - very impressive considering he was 19 at the time. But he has declined heavily since. Since his professional career started, he has played 4 seasons for the Breakers and about 5 seasons in the NZNBL. 9 total seasons of professional basketball and he is just 21. He needs to take a season off in the NZNBL to get refreshed.

We played tired and lethargic. Writing was on the wall from early on. Abercrombie's game summed up our effort. Nothing would drop for him, ball handling errors and missing in action defensively.
Playoff prospects do not look good. The 4 teams ahead of us are better than us (in talent and teamwork) and will beat us even if we did qualify.
The Hawks 2OT game was more telling for me. Webster was a one man team in prime time and a game we had multiple opportunities to win esp. with Penney out, we somehow found a way to lose.
Don't see anyway back from here. CJ who was MVP last year struggles because teams have worked him out. His supporting cast is not what it was and we are seriously wounded confidence wise.

MACDUB, I think off-season money is hard to resist for these younger, bench players.

Isaac,

Yep, you're exactly right. As I wrote the comment, I thought 'There's no way if I was in his position, I'd not play in the NZNBL'.

$30k extra (estimate) for 5 months work, plays significant minutes, fun, great way to keep fit in the off-season, more laid-back environment.

I know that some NBL players make a conscious decision to not play ABL/NZNBL so they're not wrecked by the time NBL starts. But yeah, for younger, bench guys, it'd be too tempting.

If the Breakers can't stop the rot against Townsville, you have to wonder if they have any chance of arresting the slide in time to salvage the season.

Breakers have done a pretty good ob keeping things under wraps to this point, no way they will bring personal type issues to light. And yeah i saw Cedric give someone the finger, was weird because he didnt even turn his head to look at the person. Couldve just been to a fan, who knows, but they are not a happy group, reminds me of last seasons United squad.

They have the talent to turn it around but I don't think they have the heart to do so plus it is most probably too little too late.

They may as well pull the pin and let the young guys like Shea Ili play some minutes to see how much of a future he has at the club.

mystro, unless they cut out the rot (as the playing group were rumoured to have wanted to do), I can't see them recovering.

I don't believe they'll recover, this season anyway.
It'll be a good lesson for the club and Henare & Flavell moving forward.
A fair few guys deserve pay cuts based on this seasons performances especially to lure guys like Fotu and Loe back from the depths of Europe.
Tai Webster has looked way better this season at Nebraska and would be a great addition but is likely to finish college.

I don't think guys on long-term contracts will accept pay cuts because the team imploded from top spot due to a significant in-house issue.

Getting Fotu back would be great, although possibly expensive if a buy-out of his three-year deal is needed. Loe isn't a star at NBL level by any means, prob a solid back-up, so I wouldn't be spending big money on him.

Obviously getting Kirk Penney back would be good, but with so many guys locked in I think it would take negotiating someone out of a deal to create the wriggle room.

The key word was "deserve", I realise it isn't a reality Paul.
Isaac Fotu could be a star in this league but for the betterment of NZ basketball he should keep testing himself in Europe. Rob Loe could play a Kickert role for NZ but is unlikely as like you said he's more likely to be a solid backup than a star.
I think Tai Webster would/could develop much better at the Breakers much like his brother but has made significant strides this season.

I do prefer to support local talent on my local team rather than poach players from the opposition but I also prefer to win.
It's hard to say who to keep and who to cut without really knowing what has been going on behind the scenes.

Fair enough Mystro, misread you. If they "cut out the rot" as Isaac put it and spend that money on Penney they have a championship-level team again. Of course, that's probably easier said than done.

No worries Paul.

A team like below would have some perimeter fire power and inside presence without totally being out of this realm of reality.

Ced Jackson/ Tai Webster
Corey Webster/ Everard Bartlett
Kirk Penney/ Tom Abercrombie
Tai Wesley/ Duane Bailey
Charles Jackson/ Alex Pledger

It looks like Penney is really enjoying playing with Lisch and Rhys Martin so I agree it may be a little hard to lure him back but home is where the heart is.