Shamir: Great For The Viewers But Misery For Us

Sky Sport Breakers Coach Dan Shamir is describing his side's heart stopping 101-100 overtime loss to the Bullets in Cairns as 'Great for the viewers but misery fur us'.

Captain Tom Abercrombie appeared to shut the door in the extra period hitting three triples in the final five minutes on his way to 21 points on 6/10 from downtown.

The Breakers looked home with 16 seconds to go, but Robert Franks hit a three for Brisbane, Tanner Krebs did the same seconds later and then Deng Deng intercepted a poor full-court pass from Will McDowell-White.

Deng passed it off to Anthony Drmic who nailed the triple as time expired for the incredible one-point Bullets win.

Yanni Wetzell finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds for New Zealand with Chasson Randle adding 12 points and four assists, Peyton Siva 11 points and eight assists, and Ousmane Dieng 11 points and five rebounds.

It was a stunning start from the Breakers opening with a triple from Rob Loe who started in place of Finn Delany as New Zealand went big. It worked and Yanni Wetzell scored six points during an 8-0 run that put them up 12-2.

The Bullets defence was leaking like a sieve and didn’t really stop, but at least they started putting some points on the board including Franks ending the opening quarter with 10 of them on 4/5 shooting.

But Wetzell had 13 for the Breakers on 6/6 and triples late as well to Siva and McDowell-White helped them out to a 29-22 lead after one.

The Breakers then caught fire to an even greater degree to open the second quarter. McDowell-White hit back-to-back triples and suddenly the Breakers were up 41-26 and shooting 64 per cent from the floor.

Randle then hit a couple of three-pointers, Siva and Abercrombie each added another and they were 10/17 from downtown at the half.

The Breakers led 57-46 but it wasn’t a game full of defence and the Bullets were executing well offensively too to shoot at 53 per cent with 15 points to Franks, 11 to Cadee and 10 to Patterson.

The Breakers weren’t letting up with threes to open the second half from Abercrombie and Loe, but eventually, the Bullets were able to build some momentum going on a run of nine consecutive points to make it a one-possession game.

Late triples before three quarter-time to Dieng and Abercrombie kept New Zealand to a seven-point edge but all of a sudden Brisbane started the fourth quarter with a 12-2 run and they led for the first time.

New Zealand responded with the next seven points including a third triple on the night to Dieng, but it was back-to-back long-range bombs for Brisbane to Franks and Deng Deng that had them back up 88-86 with 1:45 remaining.

Wetzell hit two free-throws to tie scores back up and that's how they stayed at the end of four with neither team really able to get a good look on their final possessions.

While Patterson scored first in overtime on a beautiful Cadee pass, Abercrombie nailed two more threes in response for New Zealand, and then when he banked one in with a minute left it appeared to seal the deal for the Breakers.

Brisbane had other ideas and three three-point bombs in the final 16 seconds from Franks, Krebs and finally, Drmic saw them snatch the most remarkable of wins.

The Breakers remain in Cairns to take on the Taipans on Sunday while the Bullets return to Brisbane to play host to the Tasmania JackJumpers on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 17

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 100 (Wetzell 23, Abercrombie 21, Randle 12)

BRISBANE BULLETS 101 (Franks 31, Patterson 17, Deng 16) 

BOX SCORE