Shout Out To Edgar Sosa: TNC’s Breakers MVP for 2017-18
The Breakers lost all four of their last games of the regular season, despite having solid leads in most of them. They booked their place in the semis and then turned to mud but that’s all good. See, as much as you might wanna panic at that, the fact is they weren’t exactly running at full speed. Fourth place suits them, of the three other playoff teams it so happens that the Breakers have played best against Melbourne United. If you want the full theory on that then check out last week’s thing.
With a few injuries and a Tall Blacks tour imminent, it made sense to give a couple younger guys more of a run, hence why the rotations were a little skewed in the two games against Illawarra (home) and Sydney (away). Only one starter scored in double figures in the first game and that was Edgar Sosa, who was then rested entirely from the second game. Yet with a quarter to play at the NSEC they were up by 15 points. With two and a half minutes left they were still up by 11.
But then Paul Henare chose to play the last couple minutes with a lineup of: Shea Ili, Derone Ruakawa, Finn Delany, Jordan Ngatai and Mitch Newton/Rob Loe. Even still they twice regained the lead after losing it in the last sixty seconds but then Mitch Norton went and did this…
Risky for sure, leaving the game in the hands of the end of his roster. Think about it though, what did they really lose other than the game? Nothing. They finish where they would have on the table anyway and gained those fringe players, a few of them being dudes who’ll be crucial in moments during the semis, some valuable late-game experience. Plus they only lost because of an unlikely three pointer on the buzzer. Finn Delany had been wonderful for his 23 points and Shea Ili had been effective too, now each of them will have learned big lessons about fourth quarter defence to go with it, the kind of situational stuff you only truly understand through experience. It’s fine. Don’t panic.
As for the other game, it was a matter of doing what they could with a short turnaround away game and only an eight-man rotation. Still no Kirk Penney while Alex Pledger missed his second game in a row and Edgar Sosa was rested after his recent ankle issues (although he was available to play). The result was almost 35 minutes for Shea Ili as well as another 20-odd for each of Finn Delany and Jordan Ngatai. Rakeem Christmas logged some good mins after barely playing on the Friday. Again they fell to pieces in the fourth quarter but oh well, whatever, never mind.
If there’s a major concern about the Breakers, it’s some of these fourth quarters. There have been too many occasions this season where they haven’t been able to close games out, where they’ve been on the wrong end of the foul count late on and allowed that to affect their defensive efforts. It’s not something that’ll necessarily sort itself out over time, the Breakers don’t really have the sort of fluid and creative offence that’ll create shots and they’ve been vulnerable to the ol’ zone defence as such, unable to discomfort defenders and then turning the ball over. It’s not cool… so all we can say is that every team has their issues and the Breakers will be a lot stronger when they get Kirk Penney back as an extra shooter and a fitter Alex Pledger for some rebounding. Rest for the likes of Mika Vukona (who won’t be playing for the Tall Blacks) and Edgar Sosa will go down nicely as well.
Speaking of Sosa, how about three cheers for the great man! With a single point in the second to last game, he clinched The Niche Cache’s Breakers MVP award for this season, holding off his fellow import DJ Newbill. Finn Delany took the three points there for his second triple of the season and Shea Ili got the two to set himself up in fourth on the overall standings in his breakout campaign. The second game’s MVP points were awarded as follows: Jordan Ngatai with three, Tom Abercrombie with two and Rakeem Christmas closing it out with the single.
(If you haven’t gotten the picture yet, or don’t regularly read these lovely Breakers articles, then the idea is that we give out 3, 2 and 1 point(s) to the three top performers in each game with the totals tallied up as we go along.)
Here are the final standings over the entire 2017-18 regular season:
Which means that Edgar Sosa joins some illustrious company as a TNC Breakers MVP winner:
- 2017-18: Edgar Sosa (39 pts)
- 2016-17: Kirk Penney (30 pts)
- 2015-16: Cedric Jackson (41 pts)
- 2014-15: Cedric Jackson (42 pts)
- 2013-14: Mika Vukona (38 pts)
And Eddie deserves it. He’s been the standout player from the very start, running the show from the point while emerging as an absolute gun from deep. There was the game-winner from the corner against Sydney that helped spark that nine-game winning streak, the highlight of a number of clutch shots he made this term. The Breakers as a team may not be great at working that clutch offence but Sosa is the one guy who absolutely can get off a shot at will with his slick handles and quick trigger. He led the team with 16.2 points per game and he also bossed them in assists as well (3.9 apg).
The rest of the team were trash from the free throw line? Well Sosa sure wasn’t. He had easily the best numbers from the stripe with 83.3% of his attempts converted. In fact his shooting splits were impressive across the board, with 42.1% from the field and a team-best 39.3% from 3pt range as well on close to seven attempts per game.
Turnovers were occasionally an issue for Sosa and his shooting could be streaky, particularly early on as he was finding his feet. However it’s no surprise at all that with 120 points per 100 possession with him on the court, Edgar Sosa had the third best Offensive Rating of the Breakers’ main rotation dudes. Only Alex Pledger and Kirk Penney can top that and each missed decent time during the campaign. He was also third in minutes played (Newbill and Abercrombie being 1 & 2). Sosa was the difference between a W and an L in several games and will need to be at his best in the semis if the Breakers are to progress. Good on ya, Eddie. Love your work.
Hold up, don’t leave without slapping an ad on this page. That way you’ll be helping keep your mates at TNC in business and serving up the goodness.