Breakers coach rips ‘me and I’ basketball

Breakers coach Gordie Herbert didn’t hold back after Friday night’s homecoming at Spark Arena, labelling his side’s first half “pathetic” and benching some players after the break because of their lack of effort.

It was meant to be a celebration: the Breakers’ first home game since September 30, and Reuben Te Rangi’s 400th NBL appearance. They’d also won both earlier games at Spark Arena, beating the Illawarra Hawks and Cairns Taipans by a combined 37 points.

They had done well to stay afloat through five straight road games, including wins in Adelaide and Sydney, with three of those coming without inspirational captain Parker Jackson-Cartwright.

Herbert missed the trip to Cairns last Sunday through illness, but he was back on deck on Friday night as the Breakers hosted the Adelaide 36ers.

But his team went into half-time trailing by 12 points, and given what Herbert saw, they were perhaps lucky the margin wasn’t bigger.

“I was really disappointed with our effort in the first half, it was pathetic,” Herbert said.

“It’s probably the most pathetic 20 minutes we’ve played this season. There was no fight, no will, no energy, no togetherness; absolutely pathetic.

“I couldn’t play some guys in the second half because of it and I’ve never had a team come out like that in the first 20 minutes and play like that basketball.

“It’s one thing to miss shots, but not to give effort, not to compete and lose every battle, it was ridiculous. Their (the 36ers') will was so much stronger than ours, they won every battle, every loose ball.”

The Breakers did fight back, cutting the deficit to two by three-quarter time and hitting the front early in the fourth, but Bryce Cotton’s 13 fourth-quarter points steered Adelaide to a 108-101 win. Cotton finished with 31 points, while Sam Mennenga led the Breakers with 28.

“In the second half, we came out and we fought. The third quarter is how we’ve got to play basketball. We came out with some intensity and we fought, and we played.”

The fact that Mojave King, Te Rangi and Kouat Noi didn’t take the floor in the second half says plenty about what Herbert thought of their first-half performances.

And given the success he’s had across a lifetime in coaching, effort is one thing he doesn’t want to have to coach at this point – it should be non-negotiable.

“It was both ends but more on the defensive end and the offensive end too,” Herbert said.

“We played me and I basketball, there was no us and we. It was my turn situation, pathetic, both ends of the floor. There was no fight, no will and our attention to detail of doing the little things very well was terrible.

“I say, if you have to coach effort you’re really in trouble and I don’t coach effort. You’ve got to coach a lot of different things but I don’t coach effort. If we’ve got to coach effort and compete level, you know, we’re in trouble. We might as well go home.”