Basketball: They've had their final - let's have ours

Ron Dorsey of the Taipans is confident his team will win game three. Photo / Getty Images

Cairns have already played their championship game, now it's the Breakers' turn.

That's the view of Breakers closer Kevin Braswell, who was unimpressed when presented with copies of the Cairns Post depicting the Taipans' game two celebrations.

"You'd think they'd won a championship looking at that paper right there," Braswell said. "They did what they had to do, basically. But you could see on their faces they didn't know it was gonna happen."

Braswell was perhaps the biggest victim of the Taipans' thrilling game two defiance. Mocked throughout the match by the Taipans' court announcer, the American responded with two overtime three-point daggers that seemed certain to have secured the Breakers' first ANBL title.

Had Ron Dorsey not responded with two huge threes for the Taipans - including a final second buzzer-beater at the end of the first overtime period - Braswell would have gone down as the hero.

He admitted he thought he had won his team the match.

"I talked to [Taipans import] Ayinde Ubaka after the game and he said to me after I hit that second three he was on the bench saying 'it's time for me to call somebody to clean my place and pack my bags'," Braswell said. "That was with 10 seconds to go. They thought it was over. To actually win that game, they won their championship back there. We'll win this one here."

Provided, that is, they stop Dorsey, who it transpires was an unlikely saviour for the Taipans. Until the 27-year-old American stunned the Breakers with a 10m bomb that shook the Snake Pit, his biggest claim to fame in far north Queensland was an extravagant dunk against the Townsville Crocodiles back in December.

A typical journeyman pro with Karhut Kauhajoen, Neptunas Klaipeda and SPO Rouen on his resume, Dorsey was in limbo after injury ended his stint at Etendard de Brest in January last year, though he did try out for the San Antonio Spurs last September, alongside Breakers go-to man Kirk Penney.

In 32 games he averages 13.4 points and after a quiet series opener at the NSEC last Wednesday he proved himself a big-game player at the weekend with a season-high 22-point haul.

That performance will always be remembered for the basket that levelled the scores at 73-73.

"It was the biggest shot of my career right there," Dorsey admitted.

"I'll always remember that one, I've never done that to take a game into overtime."

But Dorsey could also revel in other significant numbers. He also dragged in nine rebounds - an act of defiance after the Taipans were dominated on the boards during game one.

His defensive work on Kirk Penney also limited the Tall Blacks guard to just 12 points, less than half his game one output.

Dorsey, though, is unlikely to catch the Breakers by surprise a second time.

"We've certainly got to be conscious of him," Penney said.

"We know what he is capable of doing, the shots he is capable of making. We want to take that away from him and not let him get going. Obviously [in game two] he got some confidence and rhythm then all of a sudden he is making crazy shots. We have got to make sure he doesn't do that again."

As seems to be the American way, Dorsey has promised a Taipans victory.

"We've got the momentum. They didn't want to go to three games with us. We'll beat 'em again. Take my word."

Braswell, though, believes Dorsey's prophecy to be baseless. If the Breakers play to their ability they will be the team that emerge from game three with the Dr John Raschke trophy.

"We have to come out focused like we were in game one," Braswell said.

"As a team we didn't play well in Cairns but we still had a chance to win. That is one thing that is a positive. We haven't shot the ball that bad in a long time, but we shoot the ball pretty good here. It should be a good game three for us."

- Additional reporting NZPA