Match Report

The BNZ Breakers suffered their second defeat in the opening round of the NBL season, beaten 114-82 by Melbourne United at John Cain Arena on Sunday evening.

Whilst they were in the contest for most of the game against Brisbane Bullets on Friday at Spark Arena this game slipped from their grasp very early as they trailed by 19 points at quarter-time time and 22 at the interval – a second consecutive game giving up more than 100 points and in the process the most points conceded against United.

Izaiah Brockington was a shining light as he backed up his 16 points against Brisbane with a team-high 21 points on 9-for-10 field goals. Rob Baker II made four triples in his 17 points, Karim López scored 14 points while debutant Taylor Britt became Breaker #165.

Melbourne was led by big man Jesse Edwards with 22 points, Tanner Krebs scored 16, Milton Doyle 15, and former Breaker Shea Ili dished 8 assists to accompany 7 points.

Whilst the Breakers three-point shooting was an improvement on Friday night, making 10 from 33 (30%) and the rebounding contest was fairly even (47-45 in favour of Melbourne) the giving up of 17 turnovers and 114 points will cause some furrowed brows at Atlas Place.

With Sam Mennenga absent due to concussion protocols, his place in the starting unit was taken by Rob Loe, and it was he who opened the BNZ Breakers scoring. That was followed by a Brockington basket, but they were slim pickings compared with Melbourne as they raced to a 34-15 quarter-time lead.

Brockington added 9 more points in the second, but Melbourne had stretched their advantage to a daunting 55-33 at half-time.

The third period began with triples from López and Loe and finished with a brace of threes from Baker, although in between United stretched its lead into the thirties (89-55).

The BNZ Breakers had marginally the better of the final stanza (27-25) but the margin of the defeat, and the eighth loss to Melbourne in the last ten meetings, will give coach Petteri Koponen and his charges plenty to think about ahead of their next game - a meeting with the Perth Wildcats at Spark Arena on Saturday September 27 at 7.30 pm. 

Result:

BNZ Breakers 82 – Brockington 21, Baker 17, López 14, Te Rangi 9

Melbourne United 114 - Edwards 22, Krebs 16, Doyle 15, Daniels 14