R21 Preview: NZ Breakers v Adelaide 36ers

When: 1pm (AEDT), Sunday 24 April 2022

Where: MyState Bank Arena, Hobart

Broadcast: ESPN; 10 Peach; 10 Play; Kayo; Sky Sport NZ

 

Who won last time?

New Zealand 84 (Besson 17, Siva 16, Dieng 13) d Adelaide 75 (Sotto 14, Johnson 12, Dech 12) - Round 15, Adelaide 36ers Arena

The Breakers raced to a 19-6 lead with Chasson Randle and Ousmane Dieng instrumental in setting it up. They also had all the answers when it mattered and Hugo Besson made some huge plays down the stretch, and Randle who shut the door with a three with 30 seconds left.

The number of players who stepped up to make significant contributions for the Breakers was hugely impressive too with the full roster available for the first time in #NBL22. Besson top-scored with 17 points and four assists with Peyton Siva running the ship smoothly with 16 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Dieng had another 13 points and four rebounds, Yanni Wetzell 11 points and nine rebounds, Chasson Randle nine points, and Finn Delany eight points and seven rebounds.

Kai Sotto had an especially impressive second quarter for the 36ers on his way to finishing with 14 points and seven rebounds in over 20 minutes of court time.

Daniel Johnson also had 12 points and five rebounds for Adelaide, Sunday Dech 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Dusty Hannahs 11 points and four boards, and Cam Bairstow 11 points and seven rebounds.

 

What happened last start?

The New Zealand Breakers have now had more than a week to get ready for this last game of the #NBL22 season and will be without three key players while the Adelaide 36ers will want to bounce back after letting one slip on Friday night.

The challenges the Breakers have had to endure this season are almost indescribable and difficult to fathom, and while their 5-22 record suggests there might not be a lot of positives, that's not the case.

Yanni Wetzell has further established himself as a genuine star of the NBL while the growth of future NBA pair Hugo Besson and Ousmane Dieng has been phenomenal, and a significant credit must be given to the Breakers organisation for making that happen. 

All three of those men have seen their stocks rise significantly through the work they've done with the Breakers this season. The only problem is they all won't be there now for this last game of the season against the 36ers in Hobart on Sunday.

New Zealand's last game was last Friday night where they lost to the Tasmania JackJumpers, but once again that was another performance from the Breakers where there was a lot to like, they fought valiantly and suffered the narrow two-point defeat.

It will have been nine days since they have played when they run out onto MyState Bank Arena on Sunday as they attempt to finish with their sixth win of the season and try to avoid finishing with a 10-match losing streak.

While there will be no Besson, Dieng or Wetzell, with the experience of Tom Abercrombie, Finn Delany and Rob Loe, backcourt talents of Peyton Siva and Will McDowell-White, and talents of Rasmus Bach, Chasson Randle and youth of Kyrin Galloway and Sam Timmins, and there's enough there for the Breakers to still pull out a win to close the season.

Then there's the 36ers who had found some impressive form winning on the road against apparent finals bound teams the Perth Wildcats and Sydney Kings back in Round 20. Those wins saw them make the job of the 'Cats more challenging to reach another finals campaign while they snapped the 13-game winning streak of the Kings on the back of doing similar to Melbourne United's nine-match run earlier in the season.

The Sixers then looked on track to keep that going in Melbourne on Friday night leading the South East Melbourne Phoenix by as much as 17 points. However, they couldn’t quite close the deal and conceded 34 points in the fourth quarter to be overrun by the Phoenix and to end up losing 94-91 in the finish.

That was a disappointing result for the 36ers purely because they had put themselves in a winning position to win a third straight game to be in a spot where they could potentially finish a frustrating season on a four-match winning streak.

That now won't be the case, but they can use that motivation from Friday night to now try and bounce back on Sunday afternoon in Hobart to finish NBL22 on a high note with what would be their 10th win in CJ Bruton's first campaign in charge as coach.

 

Who’s in form?

Rob Loe – It has been a challenging season in a lot of ways for the 141-game NBL veteran but the 30-year-old has never stopped remaining positive and hopeful a chance would open up, and he fully grasped that last Friday night against the Tasmania JackJumpers. He's been behind Yanni Wetzell and hasn’t always found minutes this season, but none of that is through a lack of ability and he fully showcased what he still has to offer last Friday with a game made up of 27 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks. He shot 11/14 from the field and hit 2/4 from downtown, but he did a lot more than that with blocking and changing shots, setting up his teammates and playing good defence. He will now look forward to the challenge against Kai Sotto, Daniel Johnson and the 36ers to close the season.

Sunday Dech – He reached 100 games in the NBL in Friday night's loss to the South East Melbourne Phoenix and it's not a stretch to suggest he is in the best run of form of his career. His game going back to last Thursday in Perth was one of the best individual performances of the season where he had 23 points and nine rebounds to go with the brilliant lockdown job on Bryce Cotton. He backed up with another strong showing against the Kings and then on Friday night, had 20 more points and six assists against the Phoenix. He is now a confident and proficient offensive player, remains one of the standout defenders of the league and he will want nothing more than to help lead the Sixers to a season-ending win on Sunday.

 

Who needs to be?

Finn Delany – He might not have had the season he was hoping for, but he still remains one of the best and most versatile forwards in the competition and for the Breakers to finish off on a winning note on Sunday, he needs to fire. His numbers this season of 10.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists a game while shooting 39.1 per cent from the field and 30.2 per cent from deep are all down on what he produced a season ago. But none of that matters on Sunday because whether his motivation is to simply help New Zealand win or to send a reminder of what he can for whatever potential suitors he has for next season, he has all the tools to still play a match-winning role for the Breakers and the chance will be there without Wetzell, Besson and Dieng in the line-up.

Dusty Hannahs – He has become somewhat of a barometer of this 36ers team. With the energy and bravado that he can play with when he's aggressive and knocking down his shots, and making plays, he can lift his team. That's why it was no coincidence they won impressively on the road to Perth and Sydney a week ago on the back of his return to the team where he combined for 45 points across those two victories. He had another good game on Friday too against the Phoenix with 18 point on 6/9 shooting despite only playing 19 minutes. He has proven he can be a match-winner for the 36ers this season and he'd love to do it one more time to close out his first season in the NBL.

 

Who’s statting up?

 - The 36ers were on the end of some unwanted records on Friday night including being the first team to give up a lead of double-figures at three quarter-time to lose to the South East Melbourne Phoenix
 
 - The Breakers' top scorers on average this season are Yanni Wetzell (17.7ppg), Hugo Besson (13.9), Jeremiah Martin (12.3), Peyton Siva (12.2), Finn Delany (10.1) and Ousmane Dieng (8.9). Only Siva and Delany will be playing on Sunday

 

Who’s matching up?

Peyton Siva v Mitch McCarron – This is quite the marquee match up point guards and both of them hold the keys to their team running proficiently enough to come away with a season-ending victory. So much of how the Breakers perform comes down to the pace set by Siva as point guard and it's similar with McCarron at the 36ers. It's remarkable how much of a better team they look when he's running the ship, pushing the pace and getting the balance right between setting up his teammates and putting them in positions to thrive while also being aggressive himself with looking at the basket. It has been a season with plenty of challenges for both men with Siva delivering 12.2 points, 4.5 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 2.0 steals for the Breakers, and McCarron 7.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals. This is a fascinating point guard match up and will go a long way to deciding which team finishes off on a winning note. 

 

Who’s talking the talk?

Breakers coach Dan Shamir has had nine days from last Friday's narrow loss to Tasmania to keep his team switched on and motivated to finish on a high this Sunday against the 36ers.

"We've got nine days and it's a little strange, and the first time that I'm in this situation but there are many things this season that have been for the first time," Shamir said.

"We're going to put in sufficient amount of work because there is a game that we have to prepare for and stay sharp for physically, scheme wise and everybody needs to be in the proper shape, and we cannot just do nothing until then this week. 

"So we'll put in the work where we need to and we'll give the team a couple of days off to start the week before we start that preparation. We'll use this time to have a chat to everybody, put an end to this season and then hopefully get a win in this last game."

While never happy to lose, Breakers big man Rob Loe was outstanding last Friday against the JackJumpers and hopes to keep that going on Sunday, but this time come out with a win.

"Obviously we're always extremely disappointed to lose, we're competitors first and foremost, and any time we lose it puts a dampener on things," Loe said.

"But I'm proud of everyone who continues to bring it at both ends of the floor, and we're trying not to give up. We have one game to go and we'll bring it to the end so we want to have a good week of practice and try to go out with a bang."

Loe has kept himself positive through the challenges of this season and the lack of minutes he's received at times, and he was happy to get the chance to go out there last Friday and send a reminder of what he's capable of.

"I've played in this league for six-odd years now so I definitely belong here. I've had a tough year finding minutes and Yanni's a great player so playing behind him, but I just come out every day and be professional and ready to go. I have just continued working," Loe said.

"I just keep getting motivation from my teammates and family, and then there's guys like Cody (Ellis) who send me messages of support, and it all adds up. It takes a tribe almost but I'm just happy to be on the team. We've got a great group of guys, we all work hard and we all come in here every day to try and win games."

While Sixers coach CJ Bruton was disappointed his team let a chance slip of winning a third straight game on the road to the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Friday, he remains confident of a strong finish on Sunday before focusing on the future.

"Yeah, I'm disappointed but as I told our boys, you can cry and put your lip down but we've got another game to go and prepare for and while this is frustrating and disappointing, it's the way our season has been," Bruton said. 

"Little things come back to bite you in the butt and that's a game that we let get away. We've had a few of these and it's been up and down for us, and we get one more chance to correct that. I'm glad.

"I've always got hope, always got faith and always believe in all the guys that we've got. Not everyone gets the chance and this is a game of basketball and at certain times, I go certain ways to go and get the job done and hopefully that plays out like every coach hopes. 

"But I definitely believe in this group. As for giving hope for the future, this is about the now. Yeah, I believe what we are going to create and what we're doing right now is heading in the right direction, but we have to finish the job at hand. 

"That's about preparing for New Zealand and this one hurts like the first loss that we had in Perth, but I can't get it back. We have one more chance to learn from this and certain things down the stretch about how you close a game out, and finish the right way. We've got to keep our heads up and now go to prepare for New Zealand."