Breakers Numbers from the Melbourne Tigers victory and Perth Wildcats defeat. 2 Two wins from four road games over the New Year period is a satisfactory outcome especially when you consider the opposition were the top four teams in the league entering the New Year. The defeats to Perth and Adelaide were painful viewing but the Melbourne and Sydney performances were a lot easier on the eye. 3 Abercrombie, Vukona and Frank all fouled out against the Wildcats. The Breakers need all their stars on the court and firing if they are to make a serious challenge for a top four spot. Big Casey created an unwanted franchise record – fouling out in 7:27 beats an Iona Enosa effort of 9:45. 4 Losing the series to Perth 4-0 was not something anticipated at the start of the season. The only consolation is that the Breakers don’t have to play them again in the regular season. You have to go back to 2006-7 when Carlos Powell was strutting his stuff to find the last time the Wildcats beat the Breakers in every game and back then it was 3-0.
14 Mika Vukona pulled down 14 defensive rebounds against the Tigers. His stats line of 17 points/15 rebounds/6 assists/2 steals/2 blocks was described by NBL website scribe Paulo Kennedy as “Herculean” and Tigers coach Chris Anstey acknowledged he was the difference between the two teams. 21 Tom Abercrombie showed some athletic moves on his way to 21 points in the 93-87 win against the Tigers. Looks to be returning to the form he displayed in 2011/12. Having said that he won’t be purring about his 1 from 8 shooting against the Cats
34 Wildcats imports Jermain Beal and James Ennis combined for 34 points proving to be too big, too athletic and too good for the Breakers. Wilkinson and Johnson with a combined 33 points almost matched their scoring effort but contributions from others were down on what was required to beat the ‘Wild Westies’.
1243 Late in the third quarter against the Tigers CJ Bruton moved to 4th on the NBL’s all time list of three point scorers. His 1,243 career three’s are only bettered by Rillie, Heal and Gaze.
2987 The number of days since Casey Frank last played for the Breakers prior to his 9pts/2 rebounds effort in Melbourne last week. He played 2 games as injury cover back in 2005 and the first 12 games of the club’s inaugural 2003/4 season. The bearded one was less of a factor in Perth fouling out in just 7 minutes. Over the two games he used his 10 fouls up in 23 minutes!!Suffice to say he is still coming to terms with the new rule interpretations.
LACEY LOWDOWN 