Breakers Ready - Penney
Tagged in: NZ Breakers
Marc Hinton, Fairfax Media
Don’t let the boy-next-door looks deceive you. Kirk Penney has a mean streak and the Breakers star figures he’ll need it as Brian Goorjian’s table-topping South Dragons bring out all the tricks in Thursday night’s delectable NBL matchup in Auckland.
It’s a contest with plenty riding on it - not the least first place on the standings - and one that Penney is sure will have playoff-type intensity. Plus, knowing the style that Goorjian-coached teams play, he’s pretty sure the Breakers are going to have their discipline, as well as their mettle, tested.
“They’re a team that love to disrupt, take you out of your offence,” says the NBL’s latest Player of the Month and early MVP candidate. “It can get a little chaotic at times, and can be a little ugly too, just because they lack structure.
“But that’s the type of game they play. They use all their players, everyone’s fresh, and they just get after you. They hack, they grab, and they do a good job in terms intensity and playing hard. It’s a challenge for us.”
Clearly the Dragons, in their first year under the Boomers coach, have the formula pretty right because they’re currently riding an eight-game winning streak that sees them shade the Breakers as the NBL’s hottest side.
But there’s not a lot in it. The Dragons have compiled a 10-2 record, only marginally better than the Breakers’ 10-3. In other words it’s two quality sides about to go toe-to-toe.
And with the Breakers fresh off a sweep of their three-game road trip - they have now won their last five-straight across the Ditch - they look very capable of matching fire with fire at the NSEC.
All in all it’s enough to have a guy like Penney, the league’s leading scorer at 26.5 points per game, positively jumping out of his skin. For a hoopster who’s played in the NBA, been to college’s Final Four and led his country in a world championship semifinal, this is the sort of contest that gets the juices flowing.
“It’s a good challenge for us. They’re coming in having won eight in a row, playing great basketball, and we’re really looking forward to it. The fans should be too.”
They sure should if Penney’s urgings are anything to go by. “His teams bring it every time,” adds Penney. “They’re up the court, in your face. That’s why we need to take care of the basketball, move the ball, and make sure we’re unselfish with it.
“They make sure you’re strong with the ball. Defensively, it’s transition. They’ve got some good three-point shooters. They’re a quality team and we respect them, but it’s exciting to play them at the same time.
Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis knows he’s going to see two key things from the Dragons, as he would any side Goorjian coaches.
They’ll play hard for 48 minutes, and they’ll defend the heck out of it. Combine that, he says, with the fact that the intense Goorjian also attracts pretty decent talent wherever he goes these days and it’s a dangerous combination.
But there’s one aspect about the challenge that Lemanis likes.
“They’re a talented group, and they like to get up-tempo. They’re typical of a Goorjian-coached team, they get after you in the back court and try and make you play at a pace you’re not comfortable with. That presents an interesting challenge for us because we enjoy playing at that pace. So far anyone this year who’s tried to speed us up we seem to have had the better of them.”
This could be a defining sort of test for the Breakers who have dropped two matches at home already this year - about two more than they’d like to have.
Penney says “it’s time to protect our little fortress”, though he liked the way the side responded to the Adelaide defeat at home (a match where they were without CJ Bruton and Phill Jones) to rattle off three straight on the road.
“As a player you want to play against top teams. I’m sure our boys will be ready. There isn’t a challenge this year we haven’t got up for and I know we’re all looking forward to this game.”
The Breakers are travelling pretty well on the fitness front. Bruton is well over his back complaint, Penney likewise his ankle problems and only seldom-used forward Adam Tanner is on the injured list. Expect Bruton to have a big one against his former coach at the Boomers and Sydney Kings.
The Dragons bring top young Boomers Mark Worthington and Joe Ingles, the in-form Matt Burston and slick American Cortez Groves among a talented group. Plus one other familiar face: former Breaker Mika Vukona who must be right at home in Goorjian’s in-your-face system.
For those rocking up to the NSEC, it may pay to arrive early. Another sellout could be on the cards.
NZ Breakers: CJ Bruton, Kirk Penney, Oscar Forman, Tony Ronaldson, Rick Rickert, Paul Henare, Phill Jones, Dillon Boucher, Tim Behrendorff, Thomas Abercrombie, Corey Webster.
South Dragons: Adam Gibson, Cortez Groves, Joe Ingles, Mark Worthington, Matt Burston, Tremmell Darden, Nathan Herbert, Mika Vukona, Rhys Carter, Daniel Dillon/Nick Horvarth.
