Basketball: Breakers through to final

Cedric Jackson looks to lay one in during the Breakers' clash with Adelaide. Photo / Getty

36ers 83
Breakers 94

It's like last year was nothing but a bad dream.

The New Zealand Breakers last night continued to resemble the side that dispatched every challenger for three straight seasons, sweeping their semifinal series against Adelaide to advance to the grand final.

The ease with which the Breakers halted the hottest team in the competition suggested the Kiwi club were hiding an extra gear all along - and suggested they deserved to be warm favourites to claim a fourth title in five season when the finals begin next week.

Such a scenario seemed almost unthinkable 12 months ago, when an 11-17 campaign consigned the Breakers to second-bottom in Dean Vickerman's first year in charge. But the coach's sophomore season has produced a scarcely-believable transformation into the juggernaut of old.

We knew the Breakers were good when they won 19 games en route to a second-placed finish but, with recent defeats against two of their fellow finalists, the championship race appeared wide open heading into the playoffs.

Appearances, however, can be deceiving, with the seemingly unstoppable Adelaide - winners of 10 straight heading to the post-season - handed two of the more comprehensive consecutive defeats of the campaign.

Game one in Auckland saw the Breakers blow away the opposition to the tune of 29 points. Last night's second game was slightly more respectable for the 36ers - they did lead 4-3 after 90 seconds, their only advantage of the series - but the end result was exactly the same.

Both teams started in predictably aggressive fashion but only the Breakers showed the requisite finesse to complement the physicality, backing up their 52 per cent shooting mark from Thursday with a near-identical number in game two.

They took a 10-point lead into halftime and turned the second spell into something of a procession, never letting their opponents work their way within single digits.

Once again, the Breakers muscled up in the paint, with a trio of bigs all standing out. Ekene Ibekwe led his side with 18 points, four rebounds and two blocks, showing his athleticism at both ends of the floor by swatting shots and finishing lob passes with equal aplomb.

Mika Vukona repeated a monster effort from game one, grabbing 12 points in the post with a level of strength painfully clear for an Adelaide defence again struggling to cope with the captain. And Tai Wesley continued a stand-out maiden season in a Breakers singlet, finishing close to a double-double of 11 points and eight rebounds.

The trio made it five Breakers in double figures, with back-court duo Cedric Jackson (18 points, 10 rebounds, six assists) and Corey Webster (15 points) enjoying predictably impressive games. And, as Adelaide learned twice in the space of 48 hours, the Breakers are rather tough to stop when receiving important contributions from every key player.

Either Cairns or Perth (the Taipans lead 1-0 heading into tonight's second game) will now face the unenviable task of thwarting what increasingly looks like an inexorable march to another title.

36ers 83 (Wilson 23, Johnson 16, Gibson 14)
Breakers 94 (Ibekwe 18, Jackson 18, Webster 15)
HT: 39-49