Basketball: Wildcats bank on stopping Penney

Kirk Penney in action during the game one loss to the Wildcats. Photo / Getty Images

The Kirk Penney-factor looms large as the Perth Wildcats send mixed messages about their tactical approach to prevent the New Zealand Breakers advancing to the Australian National Basketball League final.

Penney has the defending champions on edge ahead of tomorrow night's deciding semifinal clash at the North Shore Events Centre after his virtuoso performance during the Breakers' 93-89 win in game two on Sunday in Perth.

Overlooked as the league's most valuable player last week, the Tall Blacks guard made a mockery of the judging process with a stunning 38-point haul as the Breakers rebounded from a shock first-up loss in Auckland.

Wildcats head coach Rob Beveridge has no doubt how the Breakers can be turned over again on their home court - shut down Penney.

That ploy was successful in the series opener when Penney was confined to just 14 points, but three days later the Breakers go-to man proved unstoppable.

Beveridge was in awe of Penney's output in Perth but insists he if can be controlled the Breakers are vulnerable.

"It was a brilliant performance by one of the best players in the world, but there wasn't a whole lot of other players (that hurt us),'' said Beveridge before the team headed to Auckland.

"(Kevin) Braswell nails two threes down the stretch to ice it, but it was an individual performance that beat us. It wasn't that their offence was so tough to defend.

"It showed the other night (in Auckland) when we did one hell of a job on Penney.

"At the end of the day he's their best player and we know that if they are going to beat us on Wednesday night, it's going to be through Penney."

New Zealand Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis took exception to the suggestion his roster was a one-man team.

"You play as a team and everyone contributes their part to the whole.

"Sometimes you're part is to score, sometimes you're part is rebound, sometimes you're part is to defend, sometimes you're part is to set a screen."

Wildcats guard Damian Martin - voted the league's best defensive player - sided with Lemanis when warning teammates they could not become obsessed with closing down Penney.

"You don't go through the regular season 22-6 on the back of one player," he told the Perth Now website.

"You go through their roster and they have probably the deepest roster in the league.

"They're a great screening team and they've got some great shooters.

"You're trying to lock down one guy, but if you lock down him they go elsewhere."

The Wildcats also had to be careful not to rough house Penney - he was fouled 13 times during game two and sunk 16 of his 20 attempts from the free-throw line.

Though defending Penney is crucial the Wildcats have also concentrated on lifting their shooting percentages after a poor return last weekend.

Perth managed just 41 per cent from the field, sunk only four of 18 from beyond the arc and missed 10 free-throws.

"We missed a lot early and that put us under a lot of pressure," Beveridge said.

"We should have been up and creating our own pressure, but we were always playing catch-up so it's absolute crap that we missed 10 (free-throws)."

Meanwhile, Wildcats centres Matt Knight and Tall Black Jeremiah Trueman are expected to suit up despite copping heavy knocks as game two went down to the wire.

- NZPA