Basketball: Breakers slump to franchise-worst start after losing to Melbourne United

Jack White of Melbourne United defends Yanni Wetzell of the Breakers. Photo / Getty

The New Zealand Breakers are off to their worst start in franchise history.

After going down 83-60 to Melbourne United in Melbourne this afternoon, the Breakers fell to an 0-5 record to start their campaign, setting a new mark for their slowest start to a season after losing four on the trot to begin 2005-06.

As has been the theme of the year so far, the Breakers had to cope with players being unavailable against Melbourne, with Tom Abercrombie (ankle) out again after missing the first three games of the season, and injury replacement Chasson Randle not yet ready to make his Breakers debut.

Coach Dan Shamir will have to address the defensive performance from his team this afternoon as the Melbourne side were able to manufacture great looks inside, with the Breakers defensive rotations either too slow or non-existent.

As was the case in their loss to Illawarra on Friday night, the Breakers relied on one-on-one play on attack, with the ball really only moving when the ball handler got trapped and was in trouble.

The play of import guard Hugo Besson was again something of a bright spot on the offensive end, albeit a dim one as he missed all five of his three-point attempts and conceded a few turnovers.

The young Frenchman continued to take it upon himself to try to initiate the offence when the team were struggling, attacking the basket and showing his finishing ability on the inside while forcing the defence to stop him rather than settling for a mid-range jump shot.

Things got off to a terrible start for the Breakers as they found themselves facing a double-digit deficit midway through the first quarter. However, as Melbourne struggled to put the ball in the basket despite working for some high-quality looks, the Breakers were able to fight their way back into the contest.

At halftime, the Breakers trailed by just three points – but then things got ugly.

With a lack of players available on the bench, there were signs of fatigue in the second half following the side's Friday night double-overtime loss to Illawarra.

The Breakers were outscored by 20 points in the second half, with Melbourne shooting guard Chris Goulding leading the way with 18 points after the halftime break – sinking the Breakers in the fourth quarter to run away with a comfortable win.

The Breakers will now have a week to recover before taking on the Tasmania Jackjumpers on Boxing Day.

NZ Breakers 60 (Finn Delany 14 points, Yanni Wetzell 12)
Melbourne United 83 (Chris Goulding 21 points, Caleb Agada 20)
1Q: 14-21. HT: 31-34. 3Q: 43-52