Basketball: New Zealand Breakers crash to third defeat

Lamar Patterson of the Breakers is blocked at the basket by Majok Deng and Kouat Noi of the Taipans. Photo / Getty

Breakers have crashed to a third defeat from their opening four starts in the Australian basketball league.

Dan Shamir's side went down 84-69 to the Taipans in Cairns, shooting just four from 30 from behind the arc.

The Breakers did threaten a comeback when a 22-point deficit was cut to just seven with five minutes left.

Majok Deng led the way for Cairns with a game high 23 points. It was the Taipans second win in eight games moving them off the bottom of the table where the Breakers now sit.

Tai Webster and Finn Delany top scored for the visitors with 11 points with Rob Loe the only other player to crack double figures with 10.

The Breakers again got very little out of their imports with Colton Iverson playing less than 13 minutes, producing one point and two rebounds. Lamar Patterson scored eight points in 26 minutes of action.

"We're disappointed. It was a bad game for us and we didn't have a lot of flow in our game," Shamir said.

"Partially that's because of Taipans coverages, they came with a lot of switches that by the finish takes a little bit of your flow away because you can do various things, but primarily you attack mismatches.

"That did not go so well for us in the beginning and while we struggled there, also with their shot making we were a step slow. We got behind and chased them for the whole game. I'm disappointed with the performance and obviously with the result."

The Breakers next face the Sydney Kings on Friday.