Breakers have looked better lately and Perth have looked slightly weaker. If Abercrombie and Mika can stay out of foul trouble this should be a win for the Breakers, if not easy blowout for the Wildcats.

Breakers by 7 (without foul trouble)
Wildcats by 18 (with foul trouble)

Our last two games have been going to overtime on the back of our worst FT% of the year, whereupon we geared up and hammered Cairns 14-4 in OT, and before that was a 43 point hitjob and the Arena the Breakers are about to play at.

There is a gulf between "the Breakers are playing better" and "will win by 7 as long as Mika and Abercrombie don't foul too much".

Particularly when you consider the refs are likely bringing the shackles back out after last round...

Wildcats will get all the home calls so NZ's whole roster will foul out and will forfeit in the third quarter.

Any abductions, Jonny?

NZ have a shot at this

How big of a shot would you say?

Two.

Lock, stock and two smoking barrels

I'm hoping that they'll give the Wildcats a run for their money, a win in Perth is a big ask for any team. A win would be 3 in a row and the Wildcats being #1 with only one loss is a decent scalp to build on. A loss isn't the end of the world or the season either but if the Breakers want to contend for the championship they will need to start stringing some wins together sooner rather than later.

I like Perth's chances but I also hope it's a competitive game.
Heaps of kiwis always come out for the Breakers games here & create a top atmosphere.

NZ? No chance. Perth by a million.

NZB are a team building momentum, I don't think this will be a cake walk for Perth.

Another game with a slow start and poor FT shooting could end up ugly for Perth fans.

If I were a Perth fan I would not buy into the winning margins at home stats, especially when Sydney had as much to do with losing the game badly as much as the Cats had a hand in winning big.

^ Agree totally

NZ are building momentum and perth imo are little suspect with their interior defence. Adelaide exploited that a couple weeks ago. Vukona will have a day out and matty knight still being underdone i think it will be a very tight contest.

Wildcats by 4

NZ knocked off Townsville at home and then took out a lacklustre Melbourne at home in a round where the referees let people get away with pummelling folks. Let's not oversell this...

Oh who am I kidding, this is the same board that had people tip the Sydney Kings by 15 in *both* Perth Arena games, go hog wild folks! :D

^ Lol true that ^

But NZ almost had the adelaide game in the bag too.
And who's to say the refs are going to tighten up the calls again? It seems like the Basketbrawling is back this year and the Breakers are reveling

Last time nz were in Perth they were cutting down the nets.

The Breakers need to read some of these...get them angry!

Let me put some skin in the game here - if this is anything other than a double-digit win for Perth I'll spend the next week posting as "Nathan of New Zealand Breakers!"

haha nice nathan

Shayne Hope just reported that Gary Wilkinson has injured his thumb at training and is in doubt.

Damn! I would have thought Wilkinson would have provided a headache for Perth.

Matchup of the night will be Vukona-Redhage. Hopefully the refs won't call soft fouls in that matchup, just let 'em go.

Without Wilko, a Perth win looks pretty solid.

Broken thumb, CJ Bruton states that he believes Wilkinson will miss as it gets treatment.

Vukona-Redhage will no doubt be the source of a lot of soft fouls. We already know Mal Cooper intends to get refs to tighten the screws again. Both sides just have to hope they get the better of the early foul count. Noisy home crowd could help here...

They need to let Vukona-Redhage go. It's not like one of those two are soft players.

Yeah, I'm sure it will get on the nerves of both players being called like that.

Nathan of...

Great game to have on TV.

Pity about the final margin Nathan of New Zealand but we got the win :)

Arrrrgh! Gawdsake, you had them out to double digits twice!

Agree with ^anon on the ennis travels- nonetheless, arena holds no fears for us now, come finals time, the Cats would fear playing nz in a knockout series! 4-7 but 4 losses by 4 or less- the boys are back! Bring on the Tigers!!

Also- the Breakers must love pulling the piss out of perth media- the journalist (i know his name, won't name him) who wrote the wilkinson thumb injury article, looks like a real muppet- a thumb injury- get your facts right you idiot!!

Perth couldn't buy a basket for a period in that second quarter, the margin at half time should have been bigger. Credit to NZ for bringing it back.. twice!

I called the 4 point margin but would have preferred to have been wrong and the cats win by a bigger margin. Rather flukey win in the end

Agree with tyrell.. if nz can scrape into the top four then they could be hard to beat. They have a good inside/out game thats ideal for finals.

Not sure how long the cats can live by the hot hand of beal and ennis and whether their style can hold up in finals pressure. Would like to see them go down low more often when they need a score in tight games

NZ just might peak for the playoffs making them dangerous.

I still think the title is going to Perth this season but I wouldn't be writing off the Breakers just yet.
Credit to Perth for closing out the game.

Cracking game, cant wait for these two teams to finish 1st and 4th!! Or even just meet again next Friday at Vector!

BTW, how can so many teams get their scout wrong on Perth's imports, you have to make them drive and then make others beat you. It's not easy, because Perth are so disciplined and everyone plays their role well, but too many teams sag off those two.

When Ennis and Beal go cold then Redage steps like in Adelaide. Perth have pontent scorers when they need them, it's just that Ennis and Beal get first option. I think Martin will be pissed he missed a few especially when they sat off him.

Was a very good game... its been almost a month since I have seen an NBL TV game that was a good sales pitch for the league. Last night definitely was..

Cats got away with that one I reckon. Breakers shot better % from everywhere and their defence was better. Pledger is a goof and should have got unsportsmanlike for his foul on damo especially compared to Ennis unsportsmanlike.

Disagree with your USF interpretations. I thought the refs got it right.

Agree that the Cats got away with one. NZ looked the more convincing team to me when the heat was on.

NZ outrebounded Perth again.

I don't think Perth can win next week if they play like this again.

NZ will adjust to Beal (if he is playing), and now this means Redhage and Wagstaff will have to step up.

It just looked like NZ had the better game plan and execution.

Gleeson looked like he merely relied on the heroics of the imports.

Hats off to Damo, 9 rebounds, equalling both Abercrombie and Vukona combined.

The Beakers offense actually stagnated with Bruton on the court compared with Johnson and Webster.

He should mainly be used as a spot up guy off the ball from now on.

No, the Breakers did not outrebound the Wildcats again, MC, we won that count 35-31.

Frustrated by letting two big leads slip (not least because of what it did to my name...), but encouraged at both being able to get those leads in the first place and in the team's ability to perform in crunch time. Led from start to finish and this despite having a number of players having uncharacteristically down nights.

Suffice to say, the current Breakers may not fear the Wildcats, but neither does this Perth side (especially Ennis, Beal and Jervis) fear the Breakers. Any number of very exciting potentials for the finals make-ups.