The NZ Breakers were hoping for a winning start to 2022, however, those plans were severed by Melbourne United who sealed a five-game winning streak against the Auckland based team 89-78 last night in Hobart.
Holding a one-point lead at the half, the Breakers had no answer for Chris Goulding who finished with 23 points for the game, including a couple of late third quarter daggers, which added to his milestone of 5,000 career points. However, six points were as close as the Breakers were going to get before the defending champions put the game beyond doubt in the final minutes.
Breakers coach Dan Shamir says rebounding was the difference-maker in this match up.
"Melbourne United is doing a good job on the defensive end," Shamir says. "My feeling is you need to win games like that with 78 points. We gave up 18 offensive rebounds, which makes it tough."
"It wasn’t a perfect game today. The challenge keeps on growing but the team is functioning well. Everywhere I have been I don’t know a lot of places that would survive this, but we are. This is what we keep focusing on, the results. Even though they are not coming. We keep pushing on."
The Breakers look to work their way off the bottom of the table when they face the Sydney Kings tomorrow night at Sydney.