The man with the nameless singlet, No48 Casey Frank once again made a significant contribution as the SKY CITY Breakers eventually eased past the Cairns Taipans 96-78 on Friday evening. Frank has been with the club for six weeks and likely to remain on the payroll for at least another fortnight and possibly until the end of the season. Surely the club can afford to sew five letters on the back of his playing singlet.
Some numbers from the game;
1 – A statistical rarity these days, a blocked shot by CJ Bruton. Not as nimble as he once was, Bruton managed to get both hands on a Jamar Wilson shot, the Cairns guard probably wondering how that happened.
2 – Tom Abercrombie needed a single steal to become the 8th Breaker to record 100 steals. He made two for good measure in addition to 21 points – his 5th 20+ haul in the last seven games.
5 – I’ll state it again, the number of letters required to be sewn on Casey FRANK’s singlet. The energetic big man provided one of the highlights of the game, an alley-oop dunk in the final quarter.
5 – The number of fouls incurred by Mika Vukona. The Breakers talisman fouled out in just 21 minutes. In the interests of the team he needs to curb some of his natural agression – he’s far more valuable on the court than on the bench.
9 – The number of wins that the Breakers, Cairns and Wollongong have as they chase the Sydney Kings who have 10 victories. Wollongong’s win at Sydney on Saturday night was significant.
11 – Cairns have now lost 11 straight games in Auckland, their last success was back in October 2008. The Breakers starting five that day was Bruton, Penney, Forman, Ronaldson and Rickert, any money on one of those guys suiting up for the Breakers next season?
22 – The number of points scored by Gary Wilkinson, the game’s leading scorer – that’s 113 points in his last five outings.
509 – CJ Bruton chalked up another milestone, making his 509th NBL appearance. He now sits equal 10th on the all time appearance list alongside Paul Rees.
6642 – Another good turnout at Vector Arena.
LACEY LOWDOWN 