Henare To Miss Game
Tagged in: In The News, NZ Breakers
Marc Hinton, Fairfax Media
The New Zealand Breakers get an early chance to test their title credentials when the defending champion Melbourne Tigers come to Auckland for tonight’s ANBL clash, but will have to do so without the services of backup point guard Paul Henare.
Henare, a club lifer, is unavailable for the match because he is “attending a personal situation”.
That puts some serious acid on star new recruit CJ Bruton who will have to play the bulk of the minutes at the point.
Coach Andrej Lemanis will likely toss up between development player Corey Webster or a makeshift option like Dillon Boucher or Phill Jones when Bruton has to be spelled.
He will be reluctant to move shooting guard Kirk Penney there given the importance of the Tall Blacks marksman in the spot-up role.
Lemanis conceded Henare’s absence was an untimely one.
“Pauly brings his own strengths and qualities to the group that we’ll miss, but we’ll go in with who we have and we’ll just have to make the adjustments.”
Both teams have made impressive starts to the new season, the Breakers nailing the Wollongong Hawks 114-93 at home last week on the back of Penney’s career-high 41 points and the Tigers opening 2-0 with wins over the Sydney Spirit (112-102 away) and Gold Coast Blaze (92-76 at home).
Lemanis didn’t want to buy into too much hyping of the clash, but conceded it would give an early indication of just how prepared the Breakers were to sustain a legitimate title challenge in the ‘08-09 season.
“The Tigers are everyone’s picks as pre-season favourites, they’re defending champions and it looks like once again they’ll set the benchmark in the league this year,” he said.
“So to go up against them at this stage gives us the opportunity to get ourselves a lift in confidence if we’re able to get on the right side of the ledger.”
The Tigers have added veteran Australian forward Sam Mackinnon, young Boomers swingman David Barlow and a couple of new imports in the form of last season’s scoring champion Ebi Ere and Rod Grizzard to a deep squad spearheaded as usual by MVP Chris Anstey.
Throw in regulars like sixth-man Stephen Hoare, lefty Nathan Crosswell, guard Daryl Corletto and the hard-working Tommy Greer and it’s little wonder they’re widely regarded the strongest squad in the competition.
Plus they’re coming to Auckland with plenty of respect for a Breakers outfit that has beaten them in their last two matchups at the North Shore Events Centre.
“We’ve got to get out to the shooters, Penney and CJ and Jones and Oscar (Forman) and Tony (Ronaldson),” said coach Al Westover. “If we can do that, we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
Added Hoare: “If we’re going to beat them, we have to play better than we did the other night, play harder than we did the other night. New Zealand have got so many great shooters. If those shooters are on, they’re going to be extremely hard to beat.”
Lemanis said the Tigers presented a formidable challenge on a number of fronts. Not only was their talent the envy of every team in the league, but they ran a pretty effective offence that the core group had been making good use of for a few seasons now.
“They get a lot of cheap baskets out of it and the challenge for us is to take away those cheap looks and layups and make them shoot contested jump-shots,” said Lemanis. “If we can limit their play at that end it will go a long way to giving us a chance to win the game.”
In terms of the big improvements he’s looking for this week, Lemanis said two key areas were a focus with a team of the Tigers’ magnitude in town.
“Defensive transition was an issue for us last week, particularly where we stopped the ball and the ability to slow them down early. And even though we ended up doing all right there, the defensive boards against a team the size of the Tigers are going to be crucial.”
To that extent Breakers centre Rick Rickert, he of the big energy and flamboyant personality, is going to have a major task on his hands. He’ll carry much of the load on the boards and Lemanis will also need him to stay out of foul trouble.
It’s going to take a big effort from the Breakers, but you sensed from the moment they walked off the court last Thursday night, this has been a match they’ve been looking forward to.
With Bruton there to complete the puzzle, they are a team now that everyone respects. This is a chance for them to step up and show that it’s well-founded.
Lemanis knows nothing will come easily against the Tigers, even if they have tripped up on their last two visits to the NSEC. This early in the piece, they’re looking to make some fairly emphatic statements of their own.
“They’ve added some good pieces, and are a tough group who move the ball well, are long and athletic and present a real challenge,” said Lemanis. “It’s a good one for us to get after and see if we can get the win.”
The match tips off at the North Shore Events Centre at 7.30pm.
NZ Breakers: CJ Bruton, Kirk Penney, Oscar Forman, Tony Ronaldson, Rick Rickert, Phill Jones, Dillon Boucher, Tim Behrendorff, Adam Tanner, Corey Webster, Thomas Abercrombie.
Melbourne Tigers: Rod Grizzard, Ebi Ere, David Barlow, Sam Mackinnon, Chris Anstey, Stephen Hoare, Nate Crosswell, Tommy Greer, Daryl Corletto, Adrien Sturt.
