R20 Preview: NZ Breakers v Brisbane Bullets

When: 5.00pm (AEST), Sunday 30 May

Where: Spark Arena, Auckland

Broadcast: SBS Viceland; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time
New Zealand 91 (Creek 20, Sykes 16, Te Rangi 14) d Brisbane 71 (Djeric 17, Jawai 10, Machado 9, Deng 9) – Round 14, The Silverdome, Launceston

It was now more than six weeks ago when the teams last met and that took place in Tasmania with the Breakers hammering the Bullets by 20, but things sure have changed a lot since then coming into Sunday's clash at Spark Arena.

The Breakers dominated the contest against the Bullets to lead by as much as 27 points along the way, and ending up cruising to the 20-point in what's their most emphatic and dominant performance of the season.

Highlighting how good of a performance from the Breakers it was their 37 rebounds, 28 assists and just 10 turnovers for the game. Opposed to that, Brisbane had 39 rebounds, just the eight assists and a far too 16 turnovers.

There was so much to like about what the Breakers produced with William McDowell-White at the forefront of everything running the point. He beat Josh Giddey to that elusive triple-double finishing with 13 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds while nailing 3/6 from deep.

New import Levi Randolph had his best performance with the Breakers too with 20 points and three rebounds on 4/7 from three-point territory. Finn Delany continued his tremendous form with 17 points, four rebounds and three assists with Tom Abercrombie putting up another 16 points, five boards, three assists and two blocks.

Rob Loe also chipped in with eight points, Corey Webster seven and Colton Iverson in an impressive all-round team performance.

It was a rough night all-round for the Bullets with Matt Hodgson top-scoring with 16 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots on 8/12 shooting. Nathan Sobey added 15 points and six rebounds on 5/14 shooting while Lamar Patterson had nine points, Tamuri Wigness eight and Anthony Drmic eight.

The now

The New Zealand Breakers make their first appearance at Spark Arena since their return home last week and will look to put on a show while the Brisbane Bullets just can't afford anything but a win to keep their dwindling finals hopes alive.

After spending six months based out of Australia and playing their first 30 games of the #NBL21 season across the ditch, New Zealand got to return home last Thursday but it's been quite the hectic schedule for them since.

It started by playing the Sydney Kings in Auckland on Thursday and then in New Plymouth on Saturday before taking on the Adelaide 36ers in Christchurch on Tuesday, and then the Illawarra Hawks in Pukekohe on Friday.

But now they get to return home to Auckland for Sunday's game at their regular venue, Spark Arena, and they will be looking to put on a show for their loyal and patient fans even if they aren’t still playing for a playoff spot coming down the stretch of the season.

However, the Bullets remain still an outside chance of taking part in the playoffs should they still win their last four matches coming off Wednesday's win in Cairns over the Taipans.

That result improved Brisbane to a 15-17 record on the season and while the game looks signing behind the South East Melbourne Phoenix (18-15), Illawarra Hawks (18-15) and Sydney Kings (17-17) in the battle for third and fourth spot, it is still possible for the Bullets to make it.

They will need other results to go their way over the final week of the season while winning all four of their matches too, but quite simply it all starts on Sunday against the Breakers at Spark Arena and only a win for the Bullets will keep them any chance of still reaching the playoffs.

The game takes on an extra level of intrigue as well with Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis coaching his last game in the NBL back in New Zealand after he led the Breakers to their three-peat of championships in 2011-12-13.

The stats

- The Bullets must win all four of their remaining matches have other results go their way to have a chance of reaching the playoffs. Brisbane has not strung together four consecutive wins all season.

- The last five times that Brisbane has scored more than 90 points in a game they have come away victorious. When the Bullets have scored 90 points or less, they have lost their past seven matches.

- The last four times that the Breakers have scored 86 points or more they have won. The last eight occasions that New Zealand has scores 85 points or less they have lost.

- This will be a first NBL game outside of Queensland for new Bullets import BJ Johnson. His first seven games have either been played in Brisbane or Cairns, and he's averaging 7.1 points while shooting 34 per cent from the field and has gone 4/16 from three-point territory.

The key men

Tai Webster – He will be looking forward to hitting the Spark Arena floor more than anybody given his last time there with the Breakers saw him not hit the court in 2013 in Game 1 of the Grand Final Series – with Andrej Lemanis the coach. He has enjoyed playing the Bullets so far this season averaging 21.7 points against them which is his best against any opponent so far in #NBL21. When he is aggressive looking for his shot but also ready to set up for his teammates, and most importantly staying out of foul trouble and he can always be a match-winner any time he's on the court for the Breakers.

Nathan Sobey – He is having the best season of his NBL career, is a genuine MVP candidate and just about a lock to be in the All-First Team but he's also going to be tough to omit from the Boomers team for the Tokyo Olympics. But more importantly to him right now, is trying to lead the Bullets into the playoffs and he hasn't quite been at his best so far against the Breakers this season averaging just the 17.0 points across the previous three games. He needs three more three-pointers to reach 100 for the season as well when previously he had never hit 50 in any individual season of his career. 

The quotes

Breakers coach Dan Shamir was disappointed in a patch on Friday against the Illawarra Hawks on Friday in the third quarter that let them down, but overall he can't fault the dedication and commitment of his group through everything they have dealt with this season.

"In terms of how this game developed and the flow of the game, the third quarter hurt us a lot. We didn’t start the quarter very well and weren’t aggressive enough, and then we lost our focus and they made a quick run," Shamir said.

"They can score in bunches and we wanted to keep them under control, but we turned the ball over after the timeout and against pressure, and generally speaking they do impact the game and forced us into some turnovers. That was a big key to the game and I think in some moments of the game we stayed with how we wanted to avoid them, but whenever we lost focus, they got us and took the lead."

Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis is just focused on the next job at hand instead of things out of their control, and that means all his attention is on the Breakers and what they need to do to come away with the win from Spark Arena on Sunday.

"We need to come in and just give effort every game. We can't be worried about how the season's going to play out. That's who I am as a coach, I'm always about the day to day work and getting better every day and focusing on that, and every game wanting to come out the best we can be in this game," Lemanis said. 

"That's who we are and who we will continue to be. I was pleased with the spirit we were able to play with in this game when we were playing our sixth game in 13 days, which was always going to be a battle for us. Now in terms of the playing the Breakers, the consistent thing for us all year has been defending the three-point line. 

"In this game, Cairns shot it 43 per cent from the three-point line which is too high so we have to come up with an intelligent game plan that gives us an opportunity to defend the three-point line, and then be committed to that and clean up the misses on the defensive rebounds. Dealing with Iverson's moving screens in the middle of the floor, we'll need a scheme for that and it will take a willingness to take some hits at the end of the day."