NZ by 10+

Cairns are fun to watch but it's a very young and inexperienced team, while the Breakers are veterans.

The Taipans will be without Josh Roberts (ankle), Taran Armstrong (foot) and Tahjere McCall (hip) for the team's first game.

Even with WMW out this has the potential to turn into a slaughter. Breakers with Abo playing number 400, Delaney playing at home for first time in three years, the Breakers are going to be pumped. Breakers 15+

Looking forward to this one.
Couple of kiwis on the Taipans, Gliddon in a Breakers uniform, Abercrombie's 400th and Delaney back home.
Hopefully Pineau & Mathiang can have an impact.

Hopefully the Taipans can put up a solid first-up performance, but going to be a tough one on the road and with three starters sitting it out.

No Armstrong, Roberts, McCall? Sheesh. NZ should destroy them

Breakers by 25 plus, taipans just to many injuries to cover.

Upcoming trip to the USA for NBA preseason trials is just what we need...

I think you're selling Cairns and - especially - its coaching a bit short

Yeah well, they were missing Pinder (and McCall?) In semi finals and did pretty well, I guess the lesson is don't underestimate Forde and a young crew

NZ has way,way to much firepower for a young plucky taipans. I think it'll be a reasonably interesting first half but the Breakers will run away with it in the second half

Breakers starting Cheatham at the 5 next to Delaney at the 4

NZB's first bucket is a beauty :)

Cairns looking good, lots of length and getting out and running at every chance

14 fouls in 10 minutes in basketball.

LOL eNtERtAiNMeNt

Foul, foul, foul, foul

Imagine spending money on tickets just to watch the ref blow a whistle every 20 secs.

Cairns just keep surprising, Gak showing Mathiang up. Yes far to many fouls called, let them play, some are just ridiculous

PJC as advertised. Great defensively and super quick in transition.

At half time, PJC is on track for a points-assists-steals triple double.

Helps when you look at a player and you get called for a foul.
LOL the NBL wants to be seen as a high scoring league to try and attract the good scorers around the world.

Its all artificial.

The NBL have prostituted the rules to try and get high scores.

Foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, foul.

PJC is going to be a triple double machine, his defence and ability to steel the ball is uncanny, he scores and passes beautifully, he becoming one my favourite players.
Good game .

Jessup is a great signing for NZ, good size, plays D and can stroke the ball beautifully.

Notice when the points are flowing from baskets the fouls stop getting called?

Its all manufactured.

Remember there is also gambling around this league.

LOL ofcourse you can shoot well when the referee does not allow any form of defense to be played.

Why doesnt the NBL just come out and say we do not want any defense to be played?

We want every team to score in the hundreds every game, so we can show the world the NBL is a high scoring game?

LOL except when we go to the world cup we finish 6th under overseas refs LOL

Jacket (flog) there was only 1 NBL player at the World Cup and he hardly played. Nice try douche

Reasonably good first half and the breakers are now running away with it . Suspected as much

NZ not short on perimeter shooting options huh

Breakers passing is elite, finding the open shooter every time. Cairns are competing but at this stage nz just so strong. PJC is going to be in the Cotton mould, like Cotton humble and sensational.

NZ are loaded .

Jacket the nbl is an excellent product but I do believe they call so many non calls. In saying all that I still enjoy the games, you my friend should stop watching and whining.

Seems Justin a lot better than I thought he would be.

Yep, nothing from Kelman-Poto, but the other 2 hyphenated players Jackson-Cartwright and Ian-Jessup were impressive

Nice way for Abercrombie to notch up his 400th game with a W.
NZ's import trio look great but Mathiang will need to watch his fouls or the Breakers will struggle.

Jessop was a really mixed bag, especially on defence. At one stage mody tore strips off him on the bench after subbing him. Came back into the game nicely though

Cheatham also mixed but the import bigs normally need time to adapt. Just like brantley and pardon did last season. He showed some good signs.

I thought delany was outstanding both ends of the court and was setting the tone for the team, playing hard

Then PJC of course just on a different level but his energy and tenacity every second on court stands out. There's a few other imports with his skill level that could learn from him

Surprised no one commented on mennenga... I thought he'd be lucky to see double digit minutes but he just dominated offensively, really astute on D and might have even led their scoring(?). Could be a sleeper for next gen award

I don't know why you expected him to not play double digit minutes... he's been compared to another Sam Waardenburg coming back from college this year.

He hasn't really been flying under the radar, he's a good player.

But yes I do agree he was good, has a better jumpshot than I expected

PJC is MVP material. He will be even better once WMW is back and they can rest him.

Breakers only question mark is the 5, although Mathiang improved as the game went on. Maybe he just needs match practice.

Mennenga was very impressive. It's a shame him and Waardenburg didn’t suit up for the Tall Blacks.

Agree EssenX, Waardenburg & Mennenga would have been a huge help at the Word Cup.
Good length, mobility and versatile skill sets.