Basketball: Sky Sport Breakers' eliminated from NBL playoff contention after shock result

Brisbane produced a stunning win to eliminate the Breakers from playoff contention. Photo / Getty

The Sky Sport Breakers' season is over, a day earlier than anyone expected.

Needing to beat the Cairns Taipans by 33 points to move past the Breakers into the fourth and final playoff spot, the Brisbane Bullets claimed a remarkable 124-88 victory to ensure the Breakers were knocked out of playoff contention.

The fact that the Breakers have missed the playoffs is no surprise, but the team who eventually sealed their exit was quite the shock.

With the Bullets needing such an unlikely win over the third-placed Taipans, eyes had turned towards Melbourne United's game against the South East Melbourne Phoenix tomorrow afternoon, where a Phoenix win would have given the Breakers a playoff berth.

But, that was assuming the Bullets wouldn't do the unthinkable, and instead, they pulled out a ludicrous victory, aided by the fact Cairns had nothing to play for and thusly gave their imports minimal minutes once the margin was out of hand.

The win saw the Bullets move to a 15-13 record - the same at the Breakers, but with a superior points percentage tiebreaker.

Points diff is stupid

— Thomas Abercrombie (@tomabo10) February 15, 2020

Brisbane finished with 2x transition plays as their previous season high. Lots of other early clock shots as well. Forced 27 TOVs. Got lucky with Cairns not needing a result, but unreal effort to get that margin to what it needed to be.

— Jordan McCallum (@jordanmcnbl) February 15, 2020

Melbourne United – in sixth – can still topple the Bullets and claim the final playoff spot with a win over the Phoenix – a game which was meant to determine the Breakers' playoff prospects, until Brisbane produced a sensational spoiler.