Breakers' Performance Hints Season Could Be About to Turn the Corner

Finn Delany was a man possessed with a career-high 33 points on 12/18 shooting from the floor to go with five rebounds and three assists in an 84-78 loss to Melbourne United.

However, the Sky Sport Breakers showed hints their season could be about to turn the corner with new import Levi Randolph making his debut and the return of Tall Blacks Centre Rob Loe.

The win sees Melbourne’s record improve to 16-5 while the Breakers drop to 5-13. With the Perth Wildcats losing to the Adelaide 36ers earlier in the night, that is enough for United to return to the top of the NBL ladder.

Randolph showed encouraging signs too with 11 points on debut for New Zealand, Corey Webster added 13 points and Colton Iverson 10 to go with nine rebounds but ultimately they just came up short up.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir said his side needed time to bond with multiple new players joining their ranks.

"We have hope in our team because for a long time we were short-handed, now we have a few new players and a functional roster," Shamir said.

"But one guy is coming off surgery and two players are new to the team. We didn’t make shots, we couldn’t really catch rhythm offensively. We are disappointed but we are hoping we can quickly start playing winning basketball."

Emerging Australian star William McDowell-White impressed in his first start for the Breakers in place of the injured Tai Webster and finishing with nine points, eight rebounds and four assists - with more time on court you can expect even more production from the former NBA G League player as he finds his spots in this league.

Shamir said McDowell-White had impressed him and the Australian guard had done well after being ‘thrown in the deep water’ as a starter.

"I like him a lot as a player," Shamir said.

"I think he is a faster thinker, a good passer, good reader. He was out of basketball, I don’t think he is in 100 per cent shape but we were very lucky to have him."

Delany had 20 of his career-best 33 points in the first half as the Breakers’ slow, methodical style kept them in the contest and frustrated the usually high-octane United offense but the home side adapted and came out much better in the second half where they built an 11-point lead.

The Breakers surged at the start of the final term and looked to try and force an upset over United but Goulding, Hopson and Landale all re-emerged in the contest and made sure their team could score in the big moments down the stretch.

United is clearly hurting without small forward Jack White who went down with a season-ending ruptured Achilles but they are slowly finding their best line-up without him as Mason Peatling, Mitch McCarron, Yudai Baba and David Barlow all had their moments.

The Breakers cut the margin to seven in the final minutes but Goulding broke their trap and found the open Hopson for a dunk to seal the victory.

Melbourne remains at home to host the Brisbane Bullets on Monday night with the Breakers now heading to Tasmania to host the Perth Wildcats on Tuesday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 13

MELBOURNE UNITED 84 (Hopson 19, Landale 15, Goulding 14)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 78 (Delany 33, C Webster 13, Randolph 11) 

BOX SCORE