Gleim focused on BNZ Breakers getting better

Sebastian Gleim stepped up to coach the BNZ Breakers in Cairns on Sunday, but is more than happy to hand back the head coach role to Gordie Herbert ahead of a long-awaited home return this Friday night.

The BNZ Breakers remained in good hands on Sunday against the Taipans in Cairns for their last of five consecutive road matches in Australia with Herbert advised not to travel while recovering from illness he was battling last week.

Gleim is the lead assistant coach, has worked extensively with Herbert both on the German World Cup winning national team and with the Frankfurt Skyliners back in the German Bundesliga.

He is also no stranger to being a head coach having done so with Frankfurt himself and also in Germany with Crailsheim, and then for two seasons in the NZ NBL at the Franklin Bulls.

So the absence of Herbert was never going to be used as any excuse by anyone at the BNZ Breakers, but Gleim is looking forward to having him back in charge now on Friday night at Spark Arena against the Adelaide 36ers.

"I'm not the head coach, I'm a coach that helps the team and coach Herbert is the head coach," Gleim said.

"I just jumped in for him to help him in this game, and to help the team as best as I can. I'm one of the assistant coaches, one part of the team so I hope Gordie is better and recovers, and he's back next week."

Speaking directly after the game in Cairns on Sunday, obviously Gleim was disappointed the BNZ Breakers didn’t quite get over the line as were all the players, but he couldn’t fault the effort they put forward in the last of five consecutive away games in Australia.

"We are unhappy with the loss and we will look at the film, but right now it's for sure right now pretty emotional just straight after the game," Gleim said.

"You see all the players are really disappointing about this loss and I think we had a great effort, and we had a chance to win here against a very talented team.

"We just fell short on the big plays so congrats to the Taipans today, I thought they had some better shot making in the second half."

During the game in Cairns, it became clear that good things were happening for the BNZ Breakers when they looked to get the ball inside to big men Charles Bediako and Sam Mennenga.

The pair ended up combining for 37 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and two blocks on 8/16 field goal shooting too, but it wasn’t necessarily the plan going in from coach Gleim.

"I mean we are not like a team who tries to force something, we want to play together and we had players like Charles that we found around the rim in this game," Gleim said.

"Sam is always a player who can create an advantage so we looked more at how we can create an advantage, and we go from there.

"But sometimes it goes in this direction and sometimes we might find more of our shooters. It's something that just developed during the game."

One aspect of Sunday's game in Cairns was the free throws where the BNZ Breakers went 12/23 as a team.

Bediako himself brought that up as an area for him to improve on after the game, but no player ever goes out trying to miss a shot so it's an area that Gleim won't be focusing on when the group gets back to work ahead of Friday's game at home to Adelaide.

"We didn’t finish great with the field goals or the free throws, and sure in a two-point game it's really important to make the free throws, but I'm a coach that would never, ever talk about missing a shot," Gleim said.

"For me, it's about the right effort and the little things on defence. You have to go back to work and get better on the free-throw line, but that's the last thing in my thinking about what we have to put out as a team. This is something we'll be better at in the next games."

Nelson Weidemann was playing just his second game with the BNZ Breakers on Sunday in Cairns. Again, there were encouraging signs with him out there where he finished with seven points, three rebounds and two steals.

He played 12:30 and the BNZ Breakers were +11 with him out there and coach Gleim is looking forward to seeing what he can continue to provide.

"He has maybe only had like three, four practices with us and you can see his impact on the defensive end and with his speed on the court," Gleim said.

"Everyone has to get used to more to him and for him to understand the complete concept on offence and defence, but for sure, he can help us especially on the defensive end."