Preview: New Zealand v SE Melbourne

When: 5.30pm (AEDT), Thursday 20 October, 2022
Where: Trusts Arena, Auckland
Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Foxtel; Sky NZ
LIVE SCORES & STATS

Who won the last time?

New Zealand 85 (Loe 18, Le’afa 14, Brantley 13) d SE Melbourne 77 (Creek 20, Adnam 17, Broekhoff 11) – Round 3 at John Cain Arena
The Phoenix welcomed back three stars but unsurprisingly didn’t look like a cohesive unit, while the undermanned Breakers looked battle-hardened as they locked down everyone bar Mitch Creek, then served up a regular dose of pick-and-roll basketball at the other end, with Izayah Le’afa and Will McDowell-White picking the South East Melbourne defence apart.

What happened last game?

That was the Phoenix’s last outing, which has given them five days to further integrate Trey Kell, Ryan Broekhoff, Zhou Qi and debutante Gary Browne into the lineup. In the meantime, New Zealand headed to Wollongong and continued to make their claim as the NBL’s best defensive unit, holding the Hawks to 62 points at 37 per cent from the field, the fourth straight game that Mody Maor’s men have keep their opponent below 40 per cent.

What’s working?

Team defence – While obviously there is method to New Zealand’s defensive madness – particularly their ability to show early and recover on screens to avoid switches – their intensity is the key. In Saturday’s second half, the Phoenix had just seven uncontested shots, with four of those running floaters NZ defenders opted not to challenge. On 12 occasions, a Breakers help defender contested or closed down what would have been an open look.

Not giving up 85ppg – South East Melbourne held Tassie to 79 points for an opening-night win, but since have conceded exactly 85 points in all three losses. While that’s not an excessive total, their offence has been unable to reach it. The return of PG Browne should help that, but so will better application to ball-screen defence and rebounding, where SE Melbourne gave up 16 o-boards to New Zealand from just 39 misses, and sit last in the NBL in d-board percentage (69 per cent).

What needs stopping?

Middle penetration – The issue with that ball-screen D was not stopping the ball, allowing Le’afa and WMW to stroll down main street. The Phoenix gave up 24 points at 69 per cent to middle penetration from on-balls in Saturday’s first half, but thanks to the efforts of Dane Pineau and better fight from their guards, reduced that to eight point on 3/8 after interval. To win, however, they must be able to defend it with Alan Williams and Zhou on the floor.

Mitch Creek – With 20.5ppg at 52 per cent, 5.2rpg and 2.3apg, Creek has been the highlight of a slow South East Melbourne start. What would make him more effective? The Phoenix downing some threes. They are hitting just 5.8 triples at 28 per cent, while the rest of the NBL makes 10.6 at 35 per cent. Injuries to Broekhoff, Browne and Kell have seen the Phoenix avoid firing from range, but with that trio now on the floor, they need to spread the floor for Mitch.

Who’s matching up?

Rob Loe v Alan Williams – Put simply, Williams’ lack of commitment to defending the ball coming off screens was a major issue. While it may have initially been part of the scout, Big Sauce didn’t make the adjustment, nor did he clean the glass, finishing with just nine points, two boards and a season-low 15 minutes. Loe on the other hand banged in 18 points on 3/5 from range, backing that up with 10 points, eight boards and a game-high +29 in the 'Gong.

Izayah Le’afa v Gary Browne – What should we expect from Browne? Plenty. He averaged 15.4ppg and 5.7apg in Turkey last year, and 13.5ppg and 5.4apg in Italy the season prior. In the slower European game, those are quality numbers. Beyond the stats though, he’s known for making plays, which South East Melbourne needs, and will test Le’afa’s tenacious D. Izayah had 14 points, 10 assists and a game-high +11 on Saturday though, so that test will go two ways.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Izayah Le&#39;afa was dropping dimes last night!<br><br>Career High in Assists (10)<br><br>First Career Double-Double<br><br>First player in NBL23 to reach 10 assists<br><br>14pts/10ast/6rbs<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNBREAKABLE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UNBREAKABLE</a> <a href="https://t.co/P2SeN2APmE">pic.twitter.com/P2SeN2APmE</a></p>&mdash; Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1581394826742091776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

The Tasmania JackJumpers burst onto the NBL scene last year with their selfless, team-first basketball built around representing Tasmania in an authentic way and ‘defending the island’.

It was incredibly effective, but it was not an NBL original. While it took the New Zealand Breakers a lot longer to embrace their identity after a troubled expansion period, they reaped the rewards when they did.

Under the leadership of the Blackwell family and Andrej Lemanis they became the club of ‘mana’, a Polynesian term which in modern times is used to describe people of high character.

Embodying the spirit of the Tall Blacks teams that had shocked the world with their giant-killing performances, the Breakers became arguably the greatest dynasty in NBL history.

However, with the Blackwells stepping aside, the club went in a different direction, detaching from both its Kiwi connection and its winning ways.

That was more than exacerbated by the government responses to COVID which kept the team off New Zealand shores, the ultimate outcome being a four-year playoff drought and the club’s first wooden spoon in 17 years.

However, an unlikely source then intervened in the form of new Israeli coach Mody Maor. Having developed an appreciation of the passion representing New Zealand generates in his adopted country’s sporting teams, he decided he would take the club back to the future.

“I think every athlete is a gladiator when he’s doing things the right way, and this is what the Kiwi athlete is about, and what our fans want to see,” he said pre-season.

“So finding ways to connect the Breakers to a heritage of New Zealand sport for me is something meaningful.”

So far, so good. The team is playing with an energy and passion that would make the likes of Mika Vukona and Dillon Boucher proud.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bringin&#39; SHOWTIME to Illawarra!!!<br><br>Sky Sport 2 and Prime<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNBREAKABLE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UNBREAKABLE</a> <a href="https://t.co/fKiYa6Z9xx">pic.twitter.com/fKiYa6Z9xx</a></p>&mdash; Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1581949949348294656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“We recruit character, talent and potential, and then we put in the work. We believe in our ability to get the best version out of these guys,” Maor said.

New Zealanders Izayah Le’afa, Rob Loe and Tom Vodanovich are already playing at a level above what’s been previously seen, import big men Dererk Pardon and Jarell Brantley are fully bought into the team’s hard-working identity, while Australians Will McDowell-White and Cam Gliddon showed their character by overcoming illness to play big roles in Monday’s win in Wollongong.

Early on, it has eerie similarities to the Breakers’ successful era, and highlights the challenge SE Melbourne face on Thursday night if they are to break a three-game losing streak.

“We've got to be far more aggressive with our defence, far more into the ball and we've got to create some easier shots for ourselves in transition, we've got to be better,” SEM coach Simon Mitchell said, succinctly.

While they have a huge challenge incorporating four key players into the team at the same time, Mitchell’s biggest concern was how the Breakers out-competed his team.

“We've got to find ways to win ugly, and for me it comes back to we can’t give them that many second looks,” he said.

“Some of them are long rebounds and it’s hard to stop long rebounds, they bounce over your head and there’s not much you can do about it, but there were some there where I thought there were some endeavour issues. That’s what we can look after.

“The shooting will come, but that’s going to come when the chemistry’s there and the guys have got their legs under them.”

Remarkably, the only three-pointer the Phoenix nailed in the opening 30 minutes last week was Ryan Broekhoff’s half-court heave.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">?ICYMI a buzzer beater by <a href="https://twitter.com/RBroekhoff45?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RBroekhoff45</a> <br><br>Rowdy is back baby! ?<br><br>? Tune in on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/Foxtel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Foxtel</a> <a href="https://t.co/cL1MxCfdeF">pic.twitter.com/cL1MxCfdeF</a></p>&mdash; South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1581216501784547328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The fact his side only fell by eight points despite such a horror shooting night, combined with the long-awaited debut of the creative Browne gives Mitchell hope for Thursday.

“Realistically you haven't made a three going into the last quarter. That’s who we are right now until we get the legs underneath Ryan, until we get the legs underneath Trey, get Gary in there as well to assist Kyle in breaking down the defences and finding open looks for guys,” Mitchell said.

“Where hanging in games by trying to get to the free-throw line and try to get ourselves second shot opportunities on the o-boards, but we've got to make some shots.”

Coach Maor needs his illness and injury-hit team to hang in there as they play their third game in five days, with Tom Abercrombie still sidelined and Barry Brown in doubt.

“Anytime there is a quick turnaround it comes with three components for me,” he said.

“One is the physical recovery, this is going to be tough because it’s the third game with a quick turnaround with travel in between, but we have a great medical team.

“The second part is the mental one. The same way it’s hard to recover from a loss it’s hard to recover from a win, we’re a young team we need to learn how to play in these circumstances.

“And the third is the tactical part. We play South East Melbourne again and they have had six days to prepare for us. It’s about analysing that game, seeing what adjustments they can make and coming out and performing.”