Category Archives: Breakers by Numbers

Jan 25 2025
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Breakers by Numbers, NZ Breakers

Parker Jackson-Cartwright the 17th Breaker to score 1,000 points

With 19 points in the 93-87 loss against Brisbane Bullets at Wolfbrook Arena, Christchurch on Friday night Parker Jackson-Cartwright became the latest inductee into the BNZ Breakers 1,000 points club.

With his tenth point against the Bullets the mercurial point guard reached the milestone in just 51 games, averaging 19.8 points per outing. Mike Chappell the very first Breaker to accumulate 1,000 points also did so in 51 appearances with Kirk Penney the only player to reach the major mark quicker – just 41 outings. In contrast Mika Vukona took the most games to log his 1,000th point as can be seen below.

Games
Kirk Penney41
Parker Jackson-Cartwright51
Mike Chappell51
CJ Bruton61
Gary Wilkinson63
Ben Pepper69
Phill Jones72
Aaron Olson72
Cedric Jackson73
Tony Ronaldson87
Oscar Forman93
Tom Abercrombie97
Corey Webster124
Finn Delany124
Alex Pledger124
Paul Henare146
Mika Vukona153

With the Breakers out of play-off contention just three games remain for Jackson Cartwright to work his way past Tony Ronaldson and Mike Chappell on the club’s all-time scoring list. However exiting the Bullets game in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a significant rib injury it remains to be seen if PJC will be seen in Breakers colours again.

It is to be hoped the 29-year old Californian can be enticed back for the 2025-26 season but if not we are left with fond memories of one of the most exciting imports the Breakers have lured to these shores. One who sits 17th on the club’s all-time scoring list and 10th in both the assists (312) and steals (90) columns.

Breakers leading scorers all-time:

Tom Abercrombie4448
Kirk Penney3223
Corey Webster2664
Mika Vukona2583
CJ Bruton2049
Aaron Olson1800
Cedric Jackson1794
Alex Pledger1762
Finn Delany1684
Ben Pepper1451
Gary Wilkinson1423
Phill Jones1372
Paul Henare1320
Oscar Forman1265
Tony Ronaldson1037
Mike Chappell1034
Parker Jackson-Cartwright1,009
Sep 30 2024
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ANBL, Breakers by Numbers

Breakers Numbers v Southeast Melbourne Phoenix

Freddie Gillespie on debut v SEM Phoeinix

The BNZ Breakers moved to 2-0 in the Australian NBL with an 81-79 win against South East Melbourne Phoenix at Spark Arena on Sunday. It’s only the fifth time the Breakers have begun a season with consecutive wins across the opening two rounds – the last occasion was back in 2014

The mercurial Parker Jackson-Cartwright was again the driving force behind the win scoring a team high 19 points to accompany 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 4 steals and a block.

Only 32 games into his Breakers career Jackson-Cartwright is already powering his way up the club’s all-time standings for both steals and assists.

With 61 steals he sits 16th on that list only one behind Shea Ili in 15th. A top-10 spot could be reached this side of Xmas with Finn Delany (83 steals) currently occupying tenth position.

PJ-C, with his 7 assists against SEM, has now accumulated 193 dimes and will almost certainly become the 14th Breaker to reach the 200 mark when they are next in action in the NBL in mid-October.

Other stats from Sunday’s game:

Freddie Gillespie, on debut, became Breaker #157 and the 56th import to play for the club.

Max Darling (5 points) scored his first points for the Breakers as did 17 year-old Mexican Next Star Karim Lopez (3 points).

With 6 points in the contest Mojave King reached 300 career points.

The Breakers now head to the States to play NBA sides Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Breakers are next in action in the NBL on Thursday October 17th in Brisbane against the Bullets and then two days later at Spark Arena in a blockbuster fixture against Perth Wildcats.

Sep 22 2024
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ANBL, Breakers by Numbers

Breakers with the win – Mennenga and PJ-C shine

Fielding seven debutants and a rookie Head Coach in Petteri Koponen the BNZ Breakers began the new Australian NBL season with a 91-87 victory at HoopsFest in Perth on Saturday night.

The Breakers, leading by 26 points at one stage in the third quarter, appeared to be headed to a commanding win but had to survive a late Bullets comeback before eventually recording a confidence building victory.

In the absence of the suspended Freddie Gillespie Sam Mennenga shone with an NBL best 22 points and 7 rebounds. The other star of the show for the Breakers was diminutive point guard Parker Jackson Cartwright who put together his first double-double for the club – 20 points and 11 assists.

Those 11 assists were an NBL career high for PJ-C and the most by a Breaker since Will McDowell-White tallied the same number against South East Melbourne Phoenix in December 2022.

As reported previously the high volume of Breakers debutants is the most since their inaugural game against the Adelaide 36’ers back in October 2003.

Sam Mennenga (Breaker #152), one of the seven new boys, is the 8th former Westlake Boys High alumni to play for the Breakers following in the footsteps of a pretty illustrious group:

Tom Abercrombie (429 games)

Corey Webster (236)

Kirk Penney (160)

Rob Loe (145)

Tai Webster (35)

Yanni Wetzell (22)

Jack Salt (3)

Mennenga’s 22 points is the most by any of the above group on debut except recent FIBA Hall of Famer inductee Kirk Penney who scored 23 points in his first outing as a Breaker.

The victory squares the ledger in the Breaker’s win-loss record in the opening game of the season with the success against Brizzy the 11th win in 22 attempts. It’s just the third triumph on the road in the opening game of a campaign and the first since 2011.

The Breakers are next in action on Sunday September 22 at Spark Arena against South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Sep 19 2024
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ANBL, Breakers by Numbers

Record Number of Breakers Debutants

But for import forward Freddie Gillespie serving a one game suspension the BNZ Breakers would potentially have had nine debutants for their Australian NBL opening round clash with the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday.

Despite Gillespie’s absence the Breakers could still field as many as eight new faces when they take the court against the Bullets in Perth  – the most since their inaugural game against the Adelaide 36’ers back in October 2003. At the North Shore Events Centre that night all eleven players used were of course Breakers debutants.

Gillespie will miss the opening game of the season after being given a one game ban by the NBL Game Review Committee for planting a Liverpool Kiss on Sydney Kings guard Shaun Bruce in last Friday’s Blitz game.

The high volume of debutants comes about following a roster makeover during in the off-season. As a result only American point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Aussie forward Dane Pineau remain from the contracted group that was assembled this time last year at Atlas Place. Max Darling, a Development Player in 2023-24, took to the floor briefly in one game during the last campaign but otherwise the class of 24-25 are Breakers rookies.

Likely to hit the pine on Friday in Perth are American guard Matt Mooney, Canadian Next Star Karim Lopez, Australians Mitch McCarron, Grant Anticevich, Jonah Bolden, Sean Bairstow, Mojave King and Sam Mennenga. Mennenga, a former Westlake Boys High and Harbour Basketball standout, is back in familiar surrounds for his second NBL season following a year with the Cairns Taipans.

Mennenga and Darling are the only Kiwis on the roster although King, born in Dunedin and raised in Australia can, at a push, be classified as a New Zealander.

Whether it’s two or three New Zealand passport holders, the number of Kiwis on the main roster is the lowest ever. Last season there were four NZ passport holders in Izayah Le’afa, Tom Abercrombie, Dan Fotu and Finn Delany but that quartet have all moved on for different reasons.

Back in 2008-09 the outstanding foursome of Kirk Penney, Phill Jones, Paul Henare and Dillon Boucher were the Kiwi mainstays but since then, and until the last couple of years, the local contingent has hovered around the half dozen mark.

It’s zenith was in 2017-18 when a near all-Kiwi lineup was made up of Delany, Abercrombie, Shea Ili, Kirk Penney, Mika Vukona, Rob Loe, Jordan Ngatai, Alex Pledger and Americans DJ Newbill and Edgar Sosa.

It may be a while before we again see that depth and quality of Kiwi talent in Breakers uniforms.

Mar 06 2024
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Breakers by Numbers, NZ Breakers

Some numbers to back the Breakers going all-in for PJC

Numbers plus entertainment suggest retaining Parker Jackson Cartwright is a must for the BNZ Breakers.

Renowned basketball scribe Marc Hinton ranks Parker Jackson-Cartwright as the second best import that the Breakers have ever had behind multiple championship winner Cedric Jackson.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350198433/parker-jackson-cartwright-goes-so-too-do-nz-breakers-nbl-playoffs

It’s hard to pick between the singular Jackson and the hyphenated version as the numbers below tend to show but what is certain is that they are the two best import point guards to play for the Breakers. Ced J was arguably the better defender and Parker J-C the more talented at the offensive end of the floor.

Here is a snapshot of some key numbers:

After scoring 19 points in the season ending encounter with the Hawks Jackson-Cartwright became only the second Breakers player to score in double figure in every game of the season (30 games). The only other occasion was in 2006-07 when Carlos Powell scored in double digits in all 33 games.

He also becomes just the third Breaker to score over 600 points in a season (616 at 20.5ppg), following Carlos Powell who tallied 932 points in the 06-07 season and Kirk Penney who passed the mark twice. KP scored 749 points in 2007-08 and 747 points the following season.

PJC has also averaged 5.8 assists per game, a number only bettered at the Breakers by Will McDowell-White last season (5.9apg) and Cedric Jackson who exceeded 6 assists per game in all four seasons he played for the Breakers.

In addition the 2024 All-NBL First Team pick led the league in steals pinching on average 1.9 extra possessions a game. Cedric Jackson also excelled in this area posting figures of 2.2, 2.8, 2.2 and 1.2 during his four prolific years with the club.

2023-24 has been a stellar season for PJC and perhaps from a pure entertainment perspective it could be argued he is the Breakers greatest ever import. Let’s hope we see the LA native back with the club next season to embellish his numbers and once again thrill basketball fans on both sides of the Tasman.

Feb 14 2024
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Breakers by Numbers, NZ Breakers, School Basketball, Tall Blacks

Tom Abercrombie – career year by year.

From schoolboy star to star Breaker and Tall Black below is a condensed look at the achievements of one of New Zealand’s finest basketball players. Diving into his formative years it’s easy to forget how much Abercrombie has achieved and how good a junior athlete he was.

7 major Australasian championships, numerous Breakers all-time records, 100+ Tall Blacks appearances including 3 World Cup trips plus many other accolades and records broken in the past 20 years.

2002 (Year 10) Westlake Boys Runners-up at Secondary Schools Nationals. North Harbour Runners-up at U18 Nationals – named to Tournament team.

2003 (Year 11) Played for New Zealand Secondary Schools Team v Australia. North Harbour Runners-up at U18 Nationals.

Member of Westlake Boys National Championship winning volleyball team.

2004 (Year 12) Played for New Zealand Secondary Schools Team v Australia and NZ U18 team. North Harbour Runners-up at U18 Nationals – named to Tournament team.

2005 (Year 13) Captained Westlake to Secondary Schools National title. Played for Junior Tall Blacks at the Youth Olympics in Sydney.

2006/7 Redshirt Freshman at Washington State University – NCAA Tournament 2nd Round

2007/8 Sophomore at Washington State University – NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen

2008/9 Breakers debut.

2009 Waikato Pistons NBL Champions – Named to All Star 5 and Most Outstanding Forward.Debuted for the Tall Blacks v Estonia.

2010 Waikato Pistons NBL Runners-up – Named to All Star 5 and Most Outstanding Forward. Played for Tall Blacks at FIBA World Cup in Turkey.

2010-11 Breakers ANBL Champions – Grand Final MVP..

2011-12 Breakers ANBL Champions – scored a career high 33 points v Melbourne Tigers. Named to All-NBL First Team.

2012-13 Breakers ANBL Champions.

2014 Played for Tall Blacks at FIBA World Cup in Spain.

2014-15 Breakers ANBL Champions – pulled down a career high 15 rebounds v Sydney Kings.

2015-16 Breakers ANBL Runners-up.

2017-18 Breakers ANBL semi-finalists. Had a career high 7 blocks v Brisbane Bullets.

2018 A member of the Tall Blacks bronze medal winning team at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

2018-19 Moved past Kirk Penney (3,226pts) as Breakers all-time leading scorer.

2019 Wellington Saints NBL Champions – Grand Final MVP. Played his 100th game for the Tall Blacks ahead of the FIBA World Cup in China.

2020-21 Most games played for the Breakers passing Mika Vukona (354 games).

2022-23 Breakers ANBL Runners-up.

2023-24 Played 400th game for the Breakers in the opening game of his final season.

  • In his senior year at Westlake Boys High School (2005) he captained Westlake (35-0) to the NZ Secondary Schools National title. Played for the Junior Tall Blacks at the Youth Olympics in Sydney and at an Invitational Tournament in San Diego. He was also selected for the NZ Volleyball team at the Youth Olympics but had to withdraw due to the clash with basketball. He was a member of Westlake’s Swimming team and was the school’s High Jump, Long Jump and Triple Jump champion.
Nov 06 2023
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Breakers by Numbers

Abercrombie steals another Breakers All-time record

Two steals pilfered by Tom Abercrombie, in the BNZ Breakers 91-81 win against the Cairns Taipans on Friday night in Christchurch, meant he overtook Dillon Boucher (288 steals) to become the Breakers all-time leader in that statitical category. Probably worth noting though is that Boucher racked up his 288 steals in just 220 games compared with Abercrombie’s 290 in 406 appearances!

Ced Jackson was a prolific game ball thief averaging a club best 2.1 steals per game while Parker Jackson-Cartwright has begun this season averaging 2.4 per game – we’ll keep an eye on how he progresses to see if he can maintain that sort of output for the remainder of the season. 

Breakers leading stealers:

Abercrombie 290 in 406 games @ 0.7pg

Boucher 288 in 220 games @ 1.3pg

Ced Jackson 278 in 130 games @ 2.1pg

Mika Vukona 252 in 354 games @ 1.4pg

Paul Henare 209 in 250 games @ 0.8pg

CJ Bruton 167 in 179 games @ 0.9pg

Corey Webster 165 in 236 games @ 0.7pg

Parker Jackson-Cartwright 17 in 7 games @ 2.4pg

As well as steals Abbo now leads the Breakers in appearances (406), wins (228), points (4,358) and blocks (258).

Also against Cairns Izayah Le’afa, with 14 points, reached the 400 career points mark with the club. He is the 39thBreaker to score 400 points and the 15th Kiwi to log that number of points for the club.

Mangok Mathiang pulled down a season high 11 rebounds.

48-hours later the Breakers lost a nail-biter in Sydney, downed 87-85 by the Kings, where Le’afa played his 100th NBL game, 58 of those in his two seasons with South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Five rebounds from Finn Delany propelled him to 754 career boards with the Breakers – only the sixth Breaker after Mika Vukona, Abbo, Alex Pledger, Dillon Boucher and big Ben Pepper to reach the milestone.

Upcoming

Finn Delany is just one point shy of becoming the ninth player to score 1,600 points for the club.

Also one shy – in this case of 300 defensive rebounds – is Will McDowell-White. He will be the 16th Breaker to reach the mark but only the sixth guard following Ced Jackson (4.6), Paul Henare (1.9), CJ Bruton (1.7), Kirk Penney (3.3) and Corey Webster (1.6).

McD-W has accumulated his 299 DR’s at 3.6 per game which amongst the guards is only bettered by Ced Jackson’s 4.6 per game (see bracket figures above). 

Oct 23 2023
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Breakers by Numbers

Cheatham scores 30 as, for the first time, BNZ Breakers start an NBL game without a Kiwi

The BNZ Breakers, back from their two-game NBA excursion, were defeated 97-88 by Melbourne United in the Victorian capital on Sunday afternoon.

It was an afternoon we got to see two new Breakers  in action and also an occasion the Breakers took the court with an all overseas starting five for the first time in the club’s 633 game history.

With Tom Abercrombie relegated to the bench coach Mody Maor wheeled out a first five featuring Australians Will McDowell-White and Mangok Mathiang to accompany the American trio of Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Zylan Cheatham and recent arrival Anthony Lamb.

Former NBA player Lamb, the 148th Breaker, scored 15 points against United while fellow debutant Mantas Rubštavičius (Breaker #149) had 2 points and 2 rebounds in his first outing. 21 year-old Rubštavičius, a Lithuanian national team player, is part of the NBL’s Next Stars programme.

Cheatham scored a monster 30 points while Jackson-Cartwright had 5 steals to accompany 18 points and 5 assists although fouled out with 3:37 to play.

Other numbers of interest:

McDowell-White, with 9 dimes, passed 400 assists for the Breakers – the 8th Breaker to reach this number. Averaging 4.3 assists per game he will likely threaten the 500 mark before the season concludes but has a long way to go to reach Paul Henare’s all-time club record of 901 assists. 

It’s early in the season but the hyphenated duo of McDowell-White (6.5apg) and Jackson-Cartwright (6.0apg) are first and third in the NBL in that statistical category with PJC leading the steals category (4 per game) and also currently the second leading scorer tallying 21 points per outing.

Izayah Le’afa scored 7 points to reach 800 points in his 96th NBL game. 425 of those points were scored in his two season with South East Melbourne Phoenix prior to joining the Breakers. 

Dane Pineau’s 5 points were his first in Breakers colours and took the Australian forward past 400 NBL career points.

Next up for the Breakers (1-2) is a home encounter with Adelaide 36ers (2-5) at Spark Arena on Thursday October 26.

Oct 02 2023
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Breakers by Numbers

Breakers team and fans celebrate Abercrombie’s 400th in style

The BNZ Breakers began their 2023-24 NBL season in a positive fashion defeating Cairns Taipans 98-87 at Spark Arena on Saturday night. In front of nearly 7,000 fans it was a fitting way to celebrate Tom Abercrombie’s 400th game for the club.

Abercrombie is the first player to make 400 appearances for the club with the Breakers Top-10 appearance makers listed below.

Tom Abercrombie400
Mika Vukona354
Paul Henare250
Alex Pledger238
Corey Webster236
Dillon Boucher220
CJ Bruton179
Finn Delany 165
Kirk Penney 160
Rob Loe145

Parker Jackson-Cartwright may be small in stature – generously listed as 5’11” – but is certainly big in game and demonstrated that with a stats line of 25 points (10/17FG), 8 assists, 6 steals and 4 rebounds.

His 6 steals are the most on debut by a Breakers player since Dillon Boucher snaffled 8 additional possessions in the inaugural Breakers game against the Adelaide 36ers back in October 2003.

The victory represented the Breakers first season opening win since 2016.

Five players made their Breakers debuts against the Taipans with Zylan Cheatham becoming Breaker #143, Jackson Cartwright #144, Justinian Jessup #145, Mangok Mathiang #146 and Dane Pineau #147.

Finn Delany made a welcome return to Breakers colours posting 18 points (4/7 3PG) and a couple of rebounds.

A shout-out to former Westlake Boys High and Harbour representative Sam Mennenga. Mennenga, making his professional debut, impressed as he led the Taipans scoring with 17 points on 7 from 11 shooting. Another Tall Black Sam Waardenburg was also in double figures for Cairns scoring 12 points.

Upcoming:

Izayah Lea’fa needs just 9 points to reach 800 career points, 425 of those with South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Mar 17 2023
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Breakers by Numbers, NZ Breakers

Wrapping up the major Breakers numbers from the season

That record Game 4 crowd was something special.

Following the Game 5 Grand Final defeat in Sydney the curtain has come down on a hugely entertaining and successful Sky Sport Breakers season. Whilst the ultimate prize eventually eluded them the club can take immense pride in turning the disaster that was the 2021-22 wooden spoon into an almost successful march to the championship in 2022-23.

There were many memorable games during the season but for those present Grand Final Game 4 played in front of 9,742 fans at Spark Arena took the biscuit. Not only was it a record crowd for a basketball game in New Zealand but the atmosphere and passion of the supporters was spine tingling – it will live long in the memory.

Here are the key numbers from the season:

Jarrell Brantley and Derek Pardon were the only two players to play all 36 games, rookie coach Mody Maor guiding the club to an overall record of 22-14.

Brantley, the Breakers Most Valuable Player of the Year Award winner, led the scoring amassing 581 points with Barry Brown Jnr not far behind with 544 points.

The other main scoring contributors were Derek Pardon (424 points), Will McDowell-White (366) and Izayah Le’afa (359).

Tom Abercrombie’s defensive masterclass in Grand Final Game 4 in which he garnered 6 steals set a new career mark for the Breakers skipper. It also equaled the record held by another Breaker’s great Mika Vukona for the most steals by a Breaker in a play-off game.

Abbo has extended his Breakers all-time appearance record to 399 games. He has also further extended the club’s all-time records in the following categories:

Points to 4,319

Blocks to 215

Wins to 226

In addition he is second all time in rebounding behind Mika Vukona and steals behind Dillon Boucher.

Surely Tom will be back in 2023-24 to play his 400th game and take those records to greater heights!

Will McDowell-White’s emergence as an elite point guard was a joy to behold. In addition to his 366 points he dished 200 assists and pulled down 175 rebounds.

He now has 390 career assists in 78 games at exactly 5 per game. That moves the Aussie into heady company as only Cedric Jackson, with 6.4 dimes per game, has a better Breakers career average. 

Those 390 assists already place him 8th on the Breakers all-time list which is led by Paul Henare (901).

Derek Pardon led the team in blocked shots (38) and rebounds (290). His 38 blocks in a single season have only been bettered by Ben Pepper, Ekene Ibekwe and Shawn Long.

Rob Loe has moved up the Breakers all-time list on a number of statistical categories during the season:

66 blocks – 7th all-time

145 appearances – 10th all-time

68 wins – 11th all-time

542 rebounds – 12th all-time

Roll on the 2023-24 season only seven months to wait!

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