Basketball: Breakers thrashed in fourth straight defeat

Corey Webster's return was not enough to prevent the Breakers from being dealt another defeat. Photo / Getty

Melbourne 98 Breakers 74

It seemed at times in the last two weeks as if the Breakers were searching for rock bottom. They found it in Melbourne this afternoon.

A fourth straight loss left the Kiwi club in last place in the Australian NBL, completing a truly forgettable fortnight for coach Paul Henare and his players.

A slump that began with ignominy in Illawarra ended with misery in Melbourne, with the Breakers bookending a 31-point humbling against the Hawks with a 24-point thrashing against a United side who had previously occupied the bottom rung on the competition ladder.

The nadir of this losing streak arrived on either side of the halftime break at Hisense Arena. The Breakers had held a 33-30 advantage midway through the second quarter, having started strongly on defence for the first time in four games. Then it all went wrong.

Ten minutes and nine turnovers later, the Breakers suddenly trailed 60-40, having allowed Melbourne to enjoy a 30-7 run that decided the game and sent the visitors spiralling into eighth spot.

It was almost appropriate, given all the attention that had been heaped on a porous defence, that today it was the offence's turn to cause headaches for the coaches. The Breakers were never able to recover from that impotent stretch and the 74 points they eventually managed represented their second-worst return of the campaign.

But, if those failings were cruelly fitting, such a performance was still surprising. Corey Webster was welcomed back into the side after a one-game suspension following his arrest for assault during the week, initially showing no signs of distraction as he made all five of his shots for 10 points in the second quarter alone.

That followed a 12-point explosion from fellow shooting guard Kirk Penney in the first and, with both the Breakers' guns firing in such fashion, Melbourne certainly seemed to have reason to worry.

But those offensive outbursts would prove aberrations as the visitors finished the game shooting a woeful 19 per cent (five-of-26) from beyond the arc, with Webster and Tom Abercrombie combining to make only one of their 11 attempts from deep.

Given the carnage that followed, it was easy to forget the Breakers had held seven-point leads at the start of the first and second quarters. Melbourne finally found the front towards the end of the half and, as the Breakers went three minutes without scoring, the home side's lead quickly ballooned to 10 by the major break.

The Breakers turned it over 10 times in the half, leading directly to 15 points for their opponents, and their bench in particular was being victimised when on the floor. But worse was to follow. A solitary basket from Alex Pledger was all the Breakers managed in the first five minutes of the third quarter, with the team combining to miss nine shots in the process.

There was no denying the Breakers were rattled - veterans like Penney and Mika Vukona were being called for rookie mistakes like stepping out of bounds and travelling, seeing both men finish the game with four turnovers to their names.

In the end, the visitors scored only 13 points in the third, ending the game as a contest with a quarter to play and leaving the Breakers with four days to find their way out of a deepening hole before the visit of Brisbane on Thursday night.

Melbourne 98 (C. Ware 26, C. Goulding 14, T. Wesley 13)
Breakers 74 (C. Webster 15, K. Penney 14, A. Pledger 10)
Halftime: 48-38