LACEY LOWDOWN

Yanni Wetzell, becoming Breaker #130, scored 18 points on debut against South East Melbourne Phoenix.

This is the third-highest scoring effort by a New Zealand born Breaker behind Kirk Penney (23 points v West Sydney Razorbacks in October 2007) and Phill Jones (20 points v Adelaide 36ers in October 2003).

With 3 rebounds against South East Melbourne Phoenix Finn Delany moved ahead of Oscar Forman (593 rebounds) on the club’s all-time rebounding list – up to 10^th spot.

Will McDowell-White scored a career high 27 points (10/14FG, 7/9 3PG) and also tallied 7 assists against the Adelaide 36ers. 

Only one other Breaker has had 7 assists and 7 made threes in a single game. Aaron Olson, in February 2007, made 7 threes and dished 9 dimes against West Sydney Razorbacks.  

https://bit.ly/3DToYIk

Also, against the 36ers Isaac Davidson scored 3 points in his first appearance of the season.

20 year-old Hugo Besson leads the Breakers scoring after the first two rounds of the season. The Frenchman has 61 points and sits sixth on the NBL leaderboard averaging 20.3ppg.

He is the only player in the NBL that has scored 20-points in consecutive games this season so far with 26 points against the Phoenix and 25 points against the 36ers.

With 18 points in the NBL season opener against South East Melbourne Phoenix Finn Delany moved ahead of Oscar Forman (1,265 points) into 13^th spot on the Sky Sport Breakers all-time scoring list.

Delany now has 1,276 points with Paul Henare (1,320 points) the next player in his sights.

Another 1 rebound will also carry Delany ahead of Forman (593 rebounds) on the all-time rebounding list – up to 10^thspot.

Hopefully Yanni Wetzell will be fit to debut on Friday and become Breaker #130.

Wetzell played in all 39 games for South East Melbourne last season but ironically had to sit out the game against his former teammates last Saturday.

This is the third season running the Breakers have played the same opponent twice in the opening two games of the season. In 2019 they faced Sydney Kings twice in three days to open proceedings and last season it was back-to-back games against Adelaide 36ers. All four of these games were lost! 

The absence of Dan Shamir from the opening game is the second occasion a Breakers Head Coach has been too unwell to take his spot on the sideline.

Back in January 2015 Dean Vickerman was taken to his sick bed for the fixture in Wollongong against Illawarra and his then assistant Paul Henare was the man to take charge.

Breakers squeezed home 86-84 in that one with Ikene Ibekwe, Tai Wesley, Corey Webster, Mika Vukona, Rhys Carter and Tom Abercrombie all making double figure contributions.

When the Sky Sport Breakers open their 2021-22 NBL campaign at South East Melbourne Phoenix on Saturday evening Tom Abercrombie will be missing from the lineup as he recovers from a side strain.

It’s a frustrating time for Abercrombie as he missesd the final nine games of last season. Prior to that he had made 117 successive appearances dating back to 2016.

Only Mika Vukona, Paul Henare and Aaron Olson have played more games on the bounce for the Breakers.

Mika played 161 straight games between 2010 and 2015 while Henare and Olson both played in the club’s opening 130 games from October 2003 to the end of the 2006-07 season.

Finn Delany requires 8 points on Saturday to move ahead of Oscar Forman (1,265 points) into 13^th spot on the Breakers all-time scoring list.

Another 10 rebounds will also carry Delany ahead of Forman on the all-time rebounding list – up to 10^th spot.

125 players have so far worn the Breakers singlet in the NBL. Peyton Siva, Hugo Besson, Jeremiah Martin, Ousmane Dieng, Sam Timmins and Yanni Wetzell are all poised to make their club debuts against SEM on Saturday – which one will be Breaker #126?

Yanni Wetzell will become the seventh Westlake Boys High School alumni to suit up for the Breakers. He follows in the footsteps of Abercrombie, Kirk Penney, Rob Loe, Jack Salt and the Webster brothers Corey and Tai.

Ahead of the Sky Sport Breakers home encounter with the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday it is interesting to note that four  of the players are closing in on significant milestones.

Corey Webster needs just a single assist to become the 6^th Breaker to tally 400 career assists.

Tom Abercrombie requires 3 rebounds to register 1,500 career rebounds. He is second on the all-time Breakers rebounding list behind  Mika Vukona who pulled down a whopping 2,356 rebounds and set a mark that will not be passed for a long time.

Following on from his 150th NBL appearance against the Brisbane Bullets, Jarrad Weeks needs to score 10 points to total 1,000 NBL career points.

A couple of baskets will see Finn Delany become the 24^th Breaker to score 500 points for the club.

Against Brisbane Bullets (home last Monday)

In scoring 23 points Corey Webster became the first Breaker to pass 200 points this season – he currently sits on 215 points at 19.6ppg. He is 8^th on the NBL scoring list for the current season and in addition is 6^th on the leading assists list averaging 4.3 dimes per game.

Tom Abercrombie’s 19 points was his highest score of the season.

Some Sky Sport Breakers numbers and milestones following the loss in Cairns on Friday night..

Upcoming

 Corey Webster needs 4 assist to become the 6^thBreaker to tally 400 career assists. In addition he needs just 8 points to become the first Breaker to pass 200 points this season – he currently sits on 192 points at 19.2ppg.

Jarrad Weeks needs to score just 4 points to total 1,000 NBL career points.

Finn Delany requires 18 points to become the 24^thBreaker to score 500 points for the club.

v Cairns Taipans (away)

 In his 150^thNBL game Jarrad Weeks scored a season high 15 points.

 Tom Abercrombie became the second Breakers player, after Mika Vukona, to pull down 1,100 defensive rebounds.

Brandon Ashley completed his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Playing just his third game for the Breakers Glen Rice Jnr came close to a triple double recording 30 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists.

v Illawarra Hawks (home)

Another fine crowd of 8,474 at Vector Arena was the highest attendance of the season. It is the sixth highest crowd in Breakers history.

Finn Delany recorded his first double-double for the Breakers adding 10 rebounds to a season high 20 points in just his third game back after injury.

Tom Abercrombie is just 2 points shy of becoming the first Breakers player to break the 3,500 points mark to further extend his all-time leading scorer record for the club.

In addition Abercrombie will play his 69^thconsecutive NBL game passing his personal previous best unbroken run of 68 games. Abbo last missed a game in January 2017 when he was forced to miss seven games with a broken hand.

He sits 15^thon the Breakers all-time list of consecutive games played, a list headed by Mika Vukona’s unbroken161 game run (2010-15).

Other Sky Sport Breakers numbers:

v Cairns Taipans at Spark Arena last Thursday.

Brandon Ashley produced the second Breakers double-double of the season pulling down 11 rebounds to go with 14 points.

RJ Hampton, playing in just his fifth professional game, scored a season high 18 points.

Corey Webster moved up to 6^th on the Breakers all-time assists list with a career high 8 assists followed by 6 dimes in the game against Perth Wildcats on Sunday.

All-Time Breakers Assists

901 Paul Henare

834 Cedric Jackson

655 Mika Vukona

635 Dillon Boucher

466 CJ Bruton

385 Corey Webster

374 Kirk Penney

374 Tom Abercrombie

v Perth Wildcats in Invercargill last Sunday.

Brandon Ashley scored 21 points, his best points haul to date in his short Breakers career.

Corey Webster became the first Breakers player to score 100 points this season – 113 points at 18.8ppg.

Upcoming

Glen Rice Jnr, an injury replacement for Scotty Hopson, will become Breaker #115 if as expected he debuts against Melbourne United.

The official attendancefor the Sky Sport Breakers opening home game against Illawarra Hawks last week at Spark Arena on Sunday was 8,338 – the 6^thhighest crowd all-time for the Breakers and the third largest ever for a regular season fixture.

The reaction of the crowd during the game showed that many were there to see future NBA players LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton in action.

So who won the first round of that matchup between the two? Being biased I give Hampton the verdict but only just.

I had both players in my fantasy team with Ball scoring 32 points and RJ 37 points emphasizing how close the contest was.

Fortunately we get to see them go head to head on three more occasions this season with the next round back at Spark Arena on November 30^th.

The largest crowd the Breakers have ever attracted was 9,238 for Game 3 of the 2012 Grand Final series against Perth Wildcats. The biggest regular season crowd was 9,157 on February 1^st2013, when the Breakers won a 10^th straight game defeating Perth 98-81 with Corey Webster scoring 14 points to back up Cedric Jackson’s 22 points.

Largest Regular season crowds:

9,157 v Perth Wildcats, 1.2.2013

8,500 v Adelaide 36’ers, 28.2.2013

8,338 v Illawarra Hawks, 24.10.19

7,979 v Sydney Kings, 27.1.2012

7,947 v Cairns Taipans, 21.3.2014

7,597 v Perth Wildcats, 13.12.2013

7,494 v Sydney Kings, 20.10.2019

v Illawarra Hawks at Spark Arena

Scotty Hopson produced the first Breakers double-double of the season pulling down 10 rebounds to go with 17 points.

Development Player Terry Li, afforded a couple of minutes of action, became Breaker #114 and the first Chinese national to play for the club.

Ethan Rusbatch played his first game for the Breakers since January 2017 – he made three brief appearances in the 2016-17 season (when a Development player). Nice to see the Tall Black guard knock down a pair of threes.

Corey Webste moved up to 7^th on the Breakers all-time assists list with a dozen dimes over the two games against Illawarra and Melbourne. He replaces Tom Abercrombie at No 7 and has 6^thplaced Kirk Penney in his sights.

All-Time Breakers Assists List

901 Paul Henare

834 Cedric Jackson

655 Mika Vukona

635 Dillon Boucher

466 CJ Bruton

374 Kirk Penney

371 Corey Webster

369 Tom Abercrombie

Upcoming

Tom Abercrombie is 17 points shy of becoming the first Breakers player to break the 3,500 points mark. The club’s all-time leading scorer could well pass that milestone during the upcoming round with games against Cairns and Perth set down for Thursday and Sunday.

Jarrad Weeks

The SKYCITY Breakers look set to give debuts to five players in the Australian NBL season opener against Brisbane tonight. Barring injury Shawn Long, Majok Majok, Armani Moore, Patrick Richard and Jarrad Weeks will all take the floor tonight.

If all five players debut it will be the most first time appearances for the club in a single game since the inaugural fixture against Adelaide 36ers in October 2003.

Tom Abercrombie has accumulated 3,211 points and needs 16 points to pass Kirk Penney (3,226) points to become the Breakers all-time leading scorer.

In addition Abercrombie (1,285 rebounds) requires 8 rebounds to pass Alex Pledger (1,292 rebounds) and become the Breakers all-time second highest rebounder behind Mika Vukona.

Abercrombie has played 275 NBL games – the sixth highest number of games played by active players in the NBL.

Corey Webster (1794 points) needs 7 points to pass Aaron Olson (1800 points) and become the Breakers 5^th highest scorer all-time.

Kevin Braswell becomes the sixth Breakers head coach following in the footsteps of Jeff Green, Frank Arsego, Andrej Lemanis, Dean Vickerman, and Paul Henare.

Like Henare he also played for the club making 41 appearances as a player.