Go CJ you good thing.....

CJ was on fire but didn't take too many touches, Penny was just Penny, dangerous all night. Abercrombie had a couple of nice blocks, Henare had a big stuff also. Storey had a couple of nice plays but looked like his ankle got hammered and he hobbled hard after that. He didn't look comfortable, even before his ankle tho. Kinda looked like, "where the hell am I again?". Rickert did what was expected as did the Bear, his 4 point play was sick, that trey was deep. Again CJ was class, thank you Australia.
One thing I will take away from that game is the fact that Phill Jones is the man. 5 steals, a few treys, take it coast to coast, nail his freethrows. Mean score for Cairns. Cairns missed sum sitters in the first half and looked sketch as and the Breakers kinda cruised in patches and the score was kinda close but once the starters got back on the floor the points started coming again for NZ (Penny and Bruton turned the tap on). Rich Melzer was solid in the second half with sum nice buckets, I always liked him when he played for NZ as he isn't afraid 2 go strong to the hole for the dunk but has a nice mid range jumper and tonight he jaked a couple of 3's. Cairns will win some games this year and are way cooler than last seasons Blaze team.

Why didn't Pledger play?

once again, Breakers show that they will rely on 3Pts this season.

The Breakers too good from outside.Had there way all night. CJ amazing.
Taipans very disappointing. No inside game not even an attempt at an inside game.
Why did Rychart only play 21 minutes?
Crosswhitw missing in action?
Has Rich Melzer decided he needs to CREATE from outside, and then shoot fadeaways when he did get inside?
Suprised they did not try to use footspeed mismatches to penetrate and maybe get to line.
Mills looks like he can score a bit but he CANNOT be entrusted with ball.
LONG season ahead for Taipans. Breaker got on roll early and were not tested.

Pledger and Webster are development player and didn't get any game time, they prob want to notch some wins before they go throwing them in the deep end, not that they would not be capable of stepping up.
Yeah Breakers didn't really go inside, more penetrate and kick out, but why would you when CJ is on fire and Penny is hot and good to go?

Seriously impressive display of outside shooting. Don't agree that the Breakers weren't tested as for the earlier parts of the game the margin hadn't blown out and NZ might've only been in front because of Penney and Bruton.

Abercrombie's block was very impressive.

How good was the shooting? Wow!

NBL Recap: http://linky.com.au/0nbab

Penney for MVP already?

Too early to call MVP just yet...but he would be a front runner for sure as the reigning MVP.

Penney's stats didn't scream 40min game. Even when the scores were close NZ didn't look worried or bothered, Lemanis kept the subs rolling and everyone did their bit. Breakers D was good in patches, few communication breakdowns but hey to be expected in game 1 of a new season. Phill Jones is class, lead by example, wish he still played for NZ but will do good things in Cairns

Fox Sports Recap + Highlight Video: http://linky.com.au/cvilb

I predicted an 18 point win...oh so close!

I don't think there was any doubt that Phill still has it as he's so competitive, but I guess the Breakers just needed to make way for Abercrombie (more efficient use of points cap too).

Good to see him get the minutes he deserves on another team.

no doubt about penney,he plays with real purpose on every play,class act,it would be great to have him as a boomer - patty at one penney at two !!

i thought cairns did an ok job for the first game back,so hard to stop the 1,2,punch from nz gaurds.all teams are going to have difficulty with that this year.
perhaps cairns might tackle the on ball screens differently next time,seemed to be switching to early and loosely on it.
also,nz did a good job of pushing cairns gaurds out of their offence,big jump switch and doubles from rickert out high didnt allow dusty any crumbs and forced meltzer to over create.

ill be at the cairns v 36ers this sat,should be a cracker !!

This would have been a different game altogether if Aaron Grabau had played.

But good work Breakers; great shooting.

Good points Skull.
I notice the Breakers have been more aggressive at defending the on ball this year. Very poor read though by Cairns pickers and pickees.
Cairns offence was very poor though. Too many guys running around looking to shoot a jump shot. Does Boodnikoff ever drive?
Breakers did a good job of pressuring the ball and forcing mistakes. Williams looked promising but was always under the pump.

How does CJ come off no pre-season and do that?! Amazing. I thought he would work his way into the season, but how wrong was I. Penney of course was great too. Imagine we could have those two in the Boomers with Mills and Newley coming off the bench to pick up the SPEED!

Cairns have a lot of work to do at both ends, but that was a tough initiation against a truly world class team, and the Taipans had their moments to suggest there is improvement in front on them.

But as someone mentioned, they need to utilise Crosswhite and Rychart in the post a lot more, and they need to stop doubling the low block and leaving shooters open - at least until someone has scored a few baskets in a row in the post.

oh,i forgot to mention the rookie coach factor,fearny looked about 10 years older after his first game!!
hope he learns to relax a bit and maybe look more for the positives.

yeah Penney would be great to have in the Boomers apart from that one small glitch.

BA should lobby to merge Australia and New Zealand for the sole purpose of improving our respective teams. ;)

NZ. 100% ours for the taking. Lets go get him for the Worlds! ;-)

yea, they have no army. Whats stopping us?

puff puff pass guys lol

What did everyone think of the 40 minute game? Scoring wise it didn't seem to impact too much, especially when you can't miss.

40 minutes may mean development guys rarely get a run? Even less that previous seasons?

New Zealand is after all Australia's 9th state or territory... :P

ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA & NZ!

40 min will obviously lower scoring,maybe average 80's. Breakers shot lights out so that will be an exception to rule.
What I did notice was how quickly the first quarter approached and the game was done and dusted in just over an hour and a half.
Could make games closer? Starters will chew up court time so subs will get less,but be more impact value.

wow what a team, its hard to believe webster who played very well in darwin and the NZ league and pledger who was very good for the tall blacks this year (and is a giant) couldnt get in the game (eventhough they are Dev. players)...just shows how deep they are, i think this is the breakers year

I think as the season progresses the NZ development players will get more court time but at the moment it's about notching some wins and building momentum and Storey still has 2 slot into the team chemistry before they even get a look in.

"New Zealand is after all Australia's 9th state or territory... :P

ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA & NZ! "

LC, you are quite correct. NZ was administered as part of the colony of NSW until 1840 and has a constitutional right to become a part of Australia if it desires. I believe that the Australian Government has formally invited NZ to join in the past with the NZ Government "politely" declining each time.

If they wanted to join Australia, there is actually nothing we can do about it, but we can't force them to join.

To alter the constitution would be costly and so we are left with this colonial hangover.

It's good to remind our Kiwi cousins of this every now and then.

ROTFLMAO!