Breakers make it four straight
The wheels wobbled late, but the Breakers negotiated a perilous Sunday night journey home to defeat the Perth Wildcats and rocket to joint second on the Australian National Basketball League standings.
It wasn’t long ago they were stuck on the bottom rungs, but with their fourth straight victory, 86-82 over the fast-finishing defending champs in front of over 6000 fans at Vector Arena, they are now well and truly back in the playoff mix.
The win, achieved with a good deal more difficulty than the biggest home crowd of the season must have anticipated, takes the Breakers finally to .500 with a 12-12 record, which places them alongside the lllawarra Hawks in second spot, behind runaway leaders the Adelaide 36ers (17-7).
With four games remaining, Paul Henare’s men may still need to win three to guarantee a spot in the post-season, but they are now a heck of a chance on the back of a run of wins that has coincided with the arrival of influential point guard Kevin Dillard.
Though it has to be said that Dillard and his team-mates rather lost their poise late in this crucial home clash when the Perth fullcourt press forced a succession of turnovers and enabled the visitors to close a deficit of 11 with three minutes remaining and eight with just 1:33 on the clock to just two points in the waning seconds.
Luckily for the Breakers young point guard Shea Ili kept his cool to slot five of six free-throws in the frantic final minutes that, effectively, sealed the victory.
The Wildcats drop back to 11-12, though remain right in contention for a record 31st consecutive playoff appearance. They will be kicking themselves they left their fullcourt defence just too late to swing this one.
The Breakers were led by a measured display from Kirk Penney who may be an oldie now, but remains very much a goodie.
The 35-year-old sharpshooter mixed some deft cuts in the paint with his trademark jumpers en route to 25 points (8/15 FG, 2/5 3PT) and six rebounds.
Dillard continued his hot form with 20 points on six-of-11 shooting (three of four from deep), five boards and four assists, though again he won’t be happy with the six turnovers which detracted just a little from his statline.
Paul Carter added a valuable 15 points on seven-of-10 shooting for the Breakers, while Akil Mitchell chimed in with six points and nine rebounds.
Bryce Cotton led the Wildcats with a game-high 26 points (22 of them coming in the second half), while big Angus Brandt continued his hot form with 14 points on sixof-nine shooting off the bench.
The Breakers won the rebound battle 46-32, but finished with 24 turnovers which made this contest a lot closer than it ever should have been.
After a pretty competitive and typically abrasive first two quarters, the Breakers eked out a 39-34 halftime advantage on the back of some solid shooting (50 percent from the floor and five of nine from beyond the arc), effective defence (Cats star Cotton had just four first-half points on two-ofseven shooting) and acceptable ball-security (just eight turnovers against the Perth pressure a number they can live with).
Led by 11 first-half points from Dillard (averaging 24.3ppg, 6.0 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 3.0 steals in this winning run), the Breakers kept their noses in front throughout an opening two periods more gritty than pretty. They led 20-18 at the end of the first quarter, and extended that to five on the back of a 19-16 second stanza.
It didn’t look promising for the home side when Dillard picked up a couple of quick fouls early in the third when he compounded a reach by complaining too vociferously and was teched. But they settled well and built their advantage quickly into double-figures and by as many as a dozen before a late flurry from the visitors got them back within seven (54-47) with one remaining.
The Breakers looked in control over the run home, until that Cats press finally yielded a run of turnovers that turned this into a nail-biter.
Luckily for the Btreakers they showed more poise at the freethrow line than they did bringing the ball up court, and the winning streak continues.