R3 Preview: Adelaide 36ers vs New Zealand Breakers

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Wednesday 27 January

Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre

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

The last time
Adelaide 94 (Humphries 24, Sloan 20, Johnson 16) d New Zealand 91 (T Webster 34, Delany 16, Patterson 16) OT, Round 2, Adelaide Entertainment Centre

NBL21 is less than two weeks old and yet we’ve seen classic after classic, and this was right up there with the best. The desperate 36ers jumped out of the blocks before the rusty Breakers found their groove. Ultimately it came down to the big plays, and while Tai Webster dominated the middle quarters, Isaac Humphries and Donald Sloan stood tall late to ensure a pulsating win for the home team.

The now
The 36ers could have let it run down their leg after a woeful opening-night performance, but their roster and their fans have hung tough and been rewarded by two overtime wins, the form of brilliant twin towers Daniel Johnson and Humphries, and a breakout performance from Sloan, whose two clutch triples delivered the extra period against NZ. Things are still precarious though, as a loss to the Breakers would leave them 2-3 after five home games.

New Zealand have a trip to Perth coming up, featuring back-to-back dates in The Jungle, followed by a cross-continental journey to face Melbourne United, so things are about to get real. The Breakers will feel confident they can improve on last Friday’s performance, with the 11 months of off-season rust removed and Corey Webster likely to be back in the line-up, but they're going to need a little more production from their imports.

The stats
 - Between them, Lamar Patterson and Colton Iverson scored just 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting and had a combined plus/minus of -36 in 43 minutes

 - New Zealand were +9 with Tai Webster on the floor and -12 in his eight minutes on the bench. His 32 field-goal attempts were the most ever by a Breaker, exceeding even Carlos Powell in the 48-minute era

 - In the space of seven days, Adelaide has attracted 26,592 fans through the doors to their four home games

 - In the past three games, Daniel Johnson and Isaac Humphries have averaged a combined 42 points at 59 per cent, 17.3 rebounds, 5.3 blocks and 4.7 assists

The key men
Josh Giddey – Coach Connor Henry declined to start his Next Star in the season opener to shield him defensively from Scotty Hopson, and those frailties were exposed by Tai Webster last Friday. Giddey made a positive offensive contribution early in the game with his push of the ball, but struggled to bring the same energy later after a stint on the bench. The 36ers need to improve on their last start to get another W, and Giddey is an obvious RFI.

Lamar Patterson – There would be plenty of RFIs in Patterson’s first game review as a Breaker. Lamar was allowed to play in Puerto Rico pre-season to build match fitness, yet while that was good in theory it didn’t deliver results. Lamar was far from his best last week, shooting 6-of-16, committing 7 turnovers and struggling to make any sort of contribution defensively. The Breakers need him creating for others to take pressure off Tai.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hey <a href="https://twitter.com/cwebster9?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cwebster9</a> your brother is wild<br><br>?<br><br>Can&#39;t wait to see 09 <a href="https://t.co/LsSY0YoThO">pic.twitter.com/LsSY0YoThO</a></p>&mdash; Sky Sport Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1352553592062791681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The quotes
Do you think Isaac Humphries likes being a part of the NBL’s number dynamic duo right now?

“I’m loving it,” Humphries said.

“He’s an incredible player, he’s smart. I've never been able to play with another big that we’ve been able to feed off, it’s very rare to have two twin towers who can feed off each other, and I think DJ’s enjoying that as well.

“We’re still finding our connection and we’re still figuring out exactly where we’ll be and how we’ll work off each other, but we’re making strides every single game. I’m loving playing with DJ.”

What’s not to love? Two genuine bigs with an innate feel for the game and the feathery touch to match.

Coach Connor Henry made it clear at the start of the season that his offensive system is built from the inside-out, and that work in progress is starting to bear fruit.

Where Henry is most delighted is Humphries development as a defensive force, an area that was once a glaring weakness for the talented big man.

“Offensively we’re not very good right now, defensively we've shown moments where we've been physical and closed plays down,” Henry said.

“I knew (Humphries) could be that physical presence inside, scoring the basketball and rebounding the ball. The blocked shots are coming, and his timing is really good, whether it’s a small or a big he’s staying down long enough, being able to measure it up and then go and get it.

“It’s a huge plus for us, we have to have rim protection and we have to play a physical style of basketball and he brings that.”



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">??? moment.<br>??? man.<br>??? block.<a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacHumphries7?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IsaacHumphries7</a> is the first 36ers player since Darnell Mee in 2001, to register 2??0?? points, 1??0?? rebounds and 5?? blocks in a game. <a href="https://t.co/NrmajWiKQy">pic.twitter.com/NrmajWiKQy</a></p>&mdash; Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1352566248039583745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



While Adelaide had the dynamic duo in last Friday’s win, New Zealand were a one-man band, and Tai Webster almost pulled out a brilliant solo win.

“When we came back, took control of the game and built the lead of something like 10 points, Tai was huge, he made the right plays,” coach Dan Shamir said.

“We had a few good reads and he dominated. He obviously had to do a lot. Under normal circumstances we would also have Corey, and everybody will get to the normal level and share responsibilities so he won’t have to take on too much himself.”

The Breakers need more contributors, but Shamir has little doubt his team will have their sea legs more underneath them come Wednesday’s rematch.

“We will get better with games, we know we have a good team, we know we have proven experienced players,” he said.

“Obviously that doesn’t mean anything, we need to build it and we need to do it together and that’s always a journey, but we will get better from game to game, learning from mistakes like we did today.”

However, for a team featuring five high-quality Tall Black internationals and a pair of experienced imports, the Breakers made a string on mental errors that cost them dearly, and that’s what will drive them most to overturn the result.

“It’s always frustrating when you feel like you’ve beaten yourself,” captain Tom Abercrombie said.

“We were just our own worst enemy both mentally and physically towards the end of that game, too many mistakes that cost us, and we weren’t able to punish them when we should have … we just have to learn from that and move on.

“The good thing is we get to play these guys again in five days, so hopefully we can right some wrongs and make some changes, and get some guys fresh and ready to go again.”



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tai and Tom with the chemistry ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNBREAKABLE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UNBREAKABLE</a> <a href="https://t.co/jMTamO9wUv">pic.twitter.com/jMTamO9wUv</a></p>&mdash; Sky Sport Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1352537317014085634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>