New Zealand Breakers’ prolific shooting guard Kirk Penney has taken out his second National Basketball League (NBL) Player of the Week award in three weeks after a Round 19 performance that has helped keep the Breakers’ playoff chances afloat.
Penney won the NBL’s weekly award back in Round 17 and also came close to winning again in Round 18, just being edged out by Gold Coast’s Adam Gibson.
With the Breakers needing to win the remainder of their fixtures to have a chance at a playoff berth, Penney stepped up once more in his team’s Round 19 game against the fourth-seeded Wollongong Hawks on Thursday at the North Shore Events Centre. He hit 23 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field and 3-of-7 from downtown. Penney also added four rebounds, two assists and two steals, which helped the Breakers upset the higher-ranked Hawks, 88-60. Penney was also great from the free throw line hitting six of his seven attempts.
Penney’s 12 first half points helped the Breakers hold an eight-point lead heading into the half time break. Penney seemed to have a tight grip on the match throughout the third quarter with most of his shots finding the bottom of the net. The Hawks simply could not stop the inspirational skipper as he cut and weaved his way through the defence with ease. With seven minutes remaining on the game clock Penney was in no mood to see his side lose a fourth quarter lead, burying a three pointer to see the Breakers’ lead balloon out to 29 points.
With two season-defining games coming up this week for the Breakers, (Gold Coast at home and Cairns away) New Zealand will hope Penney remains on song and helps them make the final four. Although currently in fifth, so close is the NBL playoff race that the Breakers could in fact rise as far as second if results fall their way.
Erron Maxey of the Gold Coast Blaze was excellent in Round 19 and may feel hard done by in not winning the weekly honour. His monster double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds helped the Blaze take care of the first placed Perth Wildcats on Friday night. Maxey went 8-of-12 from the field in his 30 minutes of court time. He also added two blocks, one assist and two steals to his stat sheet. In the Blaze’s loss to the Hawks on Saturday night, Maxey scored a team-high 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting which included 3-of-5 three pointers from the big man.
Townsville’s Corey Williams was another top performer in Round 19. The man known as ‘Homicide’ had 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals as the Crocs downed archrivals Cairns.
Other players in consideration for the weekly award in Round 19 included Julius Hodge (Melbourne), Erron Maxey (Gold Coast), CJ Bruton (New Zealand), Russell Hinder (Townsville), Brad Williamson (Townsville), Phil Jones (Cairns), Rich Melzer (Cairns), Adam Gibson (Gold Coast), Luke Schenscher (Perth), Dusty Rychart (Cairns), Rhys Martin (Wollongong), Tim Coenraad (Wollongong) and Matt Campbell (Wollongong).
NBL PLAYER OF THE WEEK 2009/10
Round 1 – CJ Bruton (New Zealand)
Round 2 – Rich Melzer (Cairns)
Round 3 – Corey Williams (Townsville)
Round 4 – Corey Williams (Townsville)
Round 5 - Mark Worthington (Melbourne)
Round 6 – John Gilchrist (Adelaide)
Round 7 – Adam Ballinger (Adelaide)
Round 8 – Julius Hodge (Melbourne)
Round 9 – Dusty Rychart (Cairns)
Round 10 – Oscar Forman (New Zealand)
Round 11 – Tywain McKee (Wollongong)
Round 12 – Tywain McKee (Wollongong)
Round 13 – Adam Ballinger (Adelaide)
Round 14 - Corey Williams (Townsville)
Round 15 – Julius Hodge (Melbourne)
Round 16 - Mark Worthington (Melbourne)
Round 17 – Kirk Penney (New Zealand)
Round 18 - Adam Gibson (Gold Coast)
Round 19 - Kirk Penney (New Zealand)
