Assistant coach Judd Flavell did not have the answer. He could not remember another occasion when his side had shot so poorly.
The defending ANBL champion went down 64-61 to the Wollongong Hawks in a pre-season match in Dunedin last night.
Breakers and Otago Nuggets swingman Leon Henry had an opportunity to level the scores with a few seconds remaining when he popped up a desperate attempt. He got nothing but air.
The team known for its outside game was strangely cold from the beyond the arc, with just one success from 17 attempts.
It was not the new $30,000 hoops because the Hawks had good success, landing seven of their 14 attempts.
"We struggled to put the ball in," Flavell said.
"We had some good looks but, when they weren't going down, we became a little bit tentative and lost our flow.
"We were one from 17 and that is very unlike a Breakers team. Those sort of stats tell us why we didn't win."
The Breakers' cause was not helped when CJ Bruton was injured shortly before the halftime break. He took a blow to the sternum. It is unclear whether he has any broken bones.
"Hopefully, he hasn't, but will see when he gets a scan," Flavell said.
One who did impress was 17-year-old development player Reuben Te Rangi.
He got a valuable 14 minutes and showed enough to suggest he is going to be a quality player in the years to come.
"That was a good performance from a 17-year-old," Flavell said. He's got a big future. We've thrown him in there early and he has shown he is comfortable at this level."
