R8 Preview: New Zealand Breakers vs Brisbane Bullets

When: 5pm (AEDT), Wednesday 3 March

Where: State Basketball Centre, Melbourne

Broadcast: ESPN; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time
New Zealand 91 (Hopson 31, Delany 15, Henry 15) d Brisbane 87 (Sobey 30, Patterson 18, Cadee 14), Round 19, 2019/20, Nissan Arena, Brisbane

The equation was simple for Brisbane, win this home date against New Zealand and then one W from their final two games would lock in back-to-back playoff appearances. Things looked promising when they led by 10 in the first and second stanzas, and by eight in the third term, but despite Nathan Sobey’s brilliance they could never put the Breakers away. In the final quarter, NZ’s import trio scored 14 of their first 17 points, then Scotty Hopson capped his remarkable night by feeding Finn Delany for the game-sealing basket.


The now
The time is now for New Zealand. They couldn’t have had a much tougher start to their season on the road, with Corey Webster injured, Lamar Patterson in poor condition and Rob Loe forced to head home. But after looking like a team on the brink they produced something special against Adelaide, and while NZ only have two wins on the board, their six losses is just one more than third-placed Illawarra, meaning an upset over Brisbane will keep them right in the playoff hunt, whereas each L digs the hole a little deeper.

The Bullets had a shaky start of their own, but are 5-3 since their Australia Day win over Sydney, have claimed three of their past four and averaged 106ppg in their past two. Andrej Lemanis-coached teams are known worldwide for their team-first offensive execution – the Boomers ranked first in assists at the 2016 Olympics and second for dimes at the 2019 World Cup – and after a settling period with a new line-up this Bullets offence is humming. The big question is can they replicate that defensively to cover for off-shooting nights?


The stats
 - In wins, Brisbane average 97ppg in regulation on 20.2apg and a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. In defeat, those numbers are 83ppg, 15.2apg and 1.3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio

 - The Breakers dished out 18 assists and committed just 7 turnovers in their win over Adelaide, after averaging 12 dimes and 15 miscues in their previous four games

 - The Bullets average 19.8 points from the foul line in victory, compared to just 12 in losses

 - New Zealand gave up just 16 free-throw attempts against the 36ers. Prior to that they were allowing a league-high 22.7 attempts from the charity stripe



The key men

Anthony Drmic – The Drm Reaper has been back to his deadly best the past three games, with 47 points on 7-of-11 triples and 14 rebounds to give the Bullets a much-needed third wheel. In his six games before that he had managed just 41 points on 4-of-18 from deep and 17 boards. If he can continue to bring defensive energy, crash the glass and finish when the defence focuses on Sobey and Vic Law, Brisbane are a far superior team.

Tai Webster – After averaging 18.6 field-goal attempts in his past five games – and 24 assists to 16 turnovers – Webster simply wasn’t giving his team what they needed at point guard. But whatever happened last week it worked, with the uber-talented Kiwi dishing out 7 dimes in the opening term, finishing with 11 assists to just 1 turnover, and getting to the foul-line a season-high 16 times. No doubt Dan Shamir will say more of the same please.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Breakers 32 - 36ers 6 at the end of the first quarter ? <a href="https://t.co/Jx6KG1Hto7">pic.twitter.com/Jx6KG1Hto7</a></p>&mdash; Sky Sport Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1365557600431919105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



The quotes

Everyone in the Hungry Jack’s NBL knew Nathan Sobey was good, but maybe not quite this good.

We’re talking about 23.4ppg, 4.0apg, 50 per cent from the field and 37 per cent from the arc. Those are elite numbers, and coach Andrej Lemanis thinks a lot of it has to do with his “comfort level” in the team after time understanding when he fits in his first season in Brisbane.

“Last year he had to overcome all of that and it stopped him being the player we’re seeing now. He’s had a fantastic off-season but what’s he’s done is he’s also matured and relaxed and taken on a leadership role,” Lemanis said.

“This year’s he’s taken that on his shoulders and as a result I think he’s feeling more responsibility for the group and understanding how he can impact it in different ways.

“He’s playing with a bit of calmness about him, and no better example for me than the one where he’s dribbling, gets in the paint, doesn’t like what he’s got, continues to dribble – most basketball people know what a Nash dribble is – and then turns around and gets basically a walk-up lay-up two-ball. Last year he’s not doing that.

“That’s a sign of his maturation with us as a team and with him as a player.”



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sobey step ? whack. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CNSatBNE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CNSatBNE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLCup</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/CuZErmS1jG">pic.twitter.com/CuZErmS1jG</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1365902179417034756?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>




While it’s great for fans to watch, it must be daunting for the New Zealand Breakers, who have to find a Sobey antidote ahead of Wednesday night’s clash.

While the Breakers had an incredible win over Adelaide, that is an opponent devoid of a high-level backcourt star, and the defence of the Webster brothers and Colton Iverson on the other side of the ball-screen will be far more sternly tested against Brisbane.

For New Zealand though, that winning feeling is a great feeling, and they’ll come out swinging again to make it two in a row and stay in touch with the top four.

“I don’t know if anybody who is not in professional sports knows what it felt like until two hours ago, it’s a very bad life, and every type of win is super important,” coach Dan Shamir said post-game.

“In our business these things happen, we started the game very well, for whatever reason it went this way, it was just something to ride on. It’s just one win in a league that we’re behind a lot. Hopefully we can ride on it and build on it.”

While that W was a huge morale boost to a team that has spent too much time on the road, the Bullets are in the opposite basket, thriving in the Melbourne hub after spending just two days on the road in pre-season and playing just one away game before the NBL Cup.

“What we’d missed was that time together to build chemistry and a unity,” Lemanis said.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/sobes2zero?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sobes2zero</a> climbing the ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WEAREBNE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WEAREBNE</a> <a href="https://t.co/EzXAtIJOeO">pic.twitter.com/EzXAtIJOeO</a></p>&mdash; Brisbane Bullets (@BrisbaneBullets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets/status/1365921087448522755?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



“I’d always had confidence in this group in terms of they're good people, they're a good bunch of guys, and spending this time together in the hub has really solidified our chemistry, and then that turns into people being happy for the team to do well, not being worried about their individual position, which puts them in a good space mentally once they check in and their responsibility lifts.

“On different nights it’s different people, Drmic obviously a great offensive night tonight but also got into it defensively, and as a collective I thought we did a decent job defensively, as we were the other night, understanding our schemes, trying to execute it, buying into it and staying true to task and playing through those tougher moments, and I think you get that when you have a collective chemistry about you.

“Tonight we had 24 assists, and that’s another sign of it. The other night we had 21 assists, and the early games that certainly wasn’t the case, it comes with trust, it comes with team unity, sharing the ball, trusting that if I make the right play next time down my teammate is going to make the right play.”