KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Breakers' Australian road trip has done nothing to restore their confidence ahead of the Australian National Basketball League playoffs, crashing to a heavy loss in Adelaide last night.
The freefalling Breakers' dropped a place to fourth after going down 102-91 to the Adelaide 36ers, one night after crashing 103-98 against lowly Wollongong.
Poor shooting was once again a serious problem for the New Zealand side, who were dreadful in the first half and trailed 58-41.
All elements of their game improved in the second spell, which they won by six points, but they never threatened the sixth-placed 36ers, who could yet be their opponents when the playoffs tip off in two weeks.
It is the Breakers' fifth loss in a row and their eighth defeat in nine matches this year - having led the league at Christmas.
With two games remaining, they have been passed by the third-placed Townsville Crocodiles and their priority now must be to avoid dropping to fifth place, which would mean playing a sudden-death quarterfinal match away from home rather than at the comforts of Auckland.
With key scorer Kirk Penney missing the double-header with an infection, Oscar Forman shouldered the scoring workload with a game-high 26 points.
However, nobody found a hot hand in a 45 per cent team shooting return, with CJ Bruton managing 14 points and Phill Jones 13.
Adelaide forward Adam Ballinger was his team's best, scoring 19 and pulling down 10 rebounds.
The hosts put on a 13-point streak midway through the first quarter and led by as much as 16 before taking a 37-28 advantage into the first break.
That was nearly doubled by halftime and the Breakers only showed any fluidity in the third quarter, closing to within eight with 14min remaining in the game.
That was as close as they got in the final quarter as well, leaving them with plenty to ponder before a home game against the Cairns Taipans on Thursday.
Adelaide 36ers 102 (Adam Ballinger 19, Luke Schenscher 17, Brett Maher 17) New Zealand Breakers 91 (Oscar Forman 26, CJ Bruton 14, Phill Jones 13). Halftime: 58-41.
- NZPA
