Breakers 78
Fate has been kind to the Breakers this season. Maybe too kind. Last night fortune swung back to bite the New Zealand team in a big way, with Mika Vukona - the player they could least afford to lose - damaging a knee ligament early in the first quarter of
what could be a terminal playoff defeat by the Perth Wildcats.
Perth are the best rebounding team in the league. Even with Vukona the Breakers aren't in the same class, but they can at least compete. Without him they are like lost souls, or rather a team without a soul.
Unable to foot it on the boards and in the paint, the Breakers were left with one hope - that they could shoot their way to victory from the outside. They couldn't. Not even close.
They poured in the shots in the first quarter to compile a flattering eight-point lead. But when the outside shots stopped dropping in the second quarter there was no plan B. They were simply rolled aside, with Wildcats import Kevin Lisch putting on a shooting clinic.
Lisch finished with 29 points, his side the victors by a whopping 23 points. What chance the Breakers of overturning a defeat of that magnitude at the graveyard that is Perth's Challenge Stadium on Sunday? The last time the Breakers played there they went down by 40.
Their season, however, depends on their ability to engineer what would be a staggering turnaround. If they can't it will be remembered for a dominant 22-6 regular season that was dogged only by suspicions the emperor might not be wearing any clothes. Suspicions that at this stage look awfully accurate.
With the innocuous manner in which Vukona was struck down - a tangle of legs and an off-the-ball slip - you had to wonder whether the Breakers had used up their quota of luck during all those scrappy mid-season victories. Results that now count for nothing.
"No one said it was going to be easy," said veteran point guard Paul Henare. "But it is one game in a series. It is going to be tough but we back ourselves on the road. We are the best road team in the league. We have a very good record. It was not such a good outing last time we were in Perth, but everything that has happened here doesn't really matter as long as we win on Sunday."
The Breakers made an almost perfect start. Vukona opened the scoring with a dunk and Kirk Penney nailed his first look from three-point range as they opened a 10-2 lead. But once the visitors settled they hit back strongly, posting a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to just one.
With Vukona sitting, Matt Knight was having it all his own way on the offensive glass.
The steady supply of rebounds and second chance points gave the Wildcats their first lead of the match with 6.29 remaining in the quarter. They never relinquished it, although the Breakers closed strongly to tie the game at 52-52 at halftime.
Wilkinson led scorers for the half with 12 points but the big American wasn't a factor on the boards, pulling in just two as the Breakers were out-rebounded 20-12.
After connecting four of their first five three-point attempts, the Breakers tailed off dramatically to land just three of their next 25.
Lisch, meanwhile, was deadly, knocking down five of eight from beyond the arc to keep the foot firmly on the Breakers' throat.
The final rebound count was a whopping 47-26, with Perth also outscoring the Breakers 44-24 in the paint. Those are ugly numbers for the Breakers. Numbers they have two days to find a way to turn around.
Perth Wildcats 101 (Kevin Lisch 29, Matthew Knight 14, Stephen Weigh 12, Andre Brown 12, Cameron Tovey 11)
Breakers 78 (Tom Abercrombie 17, Gary Wilkinson 16, Kirk Penney 14). Halftime: 52-52.