Breakers 74
Perth Wildcats 114
The New Zealand Breakers came crashing back to earth with a 114-74 humbling at the hands of the Perth Wildcats tonight which knocks them off their perch atop the Australian National Basketball League.
The 40-point hammering in Perth ends an opening run of five successive wins - the Breakers' best-ever start to a season. It also ends an 11-match golden streak which took into account the final six games of last season.
They were never in the hunt against a white-hot Perth side who raised the ton with more than three minutes remaining and whose record improves to 4-3 after dominating all facets of a lop-sided affair.
The Wildcats scored at will, notably captain Shawn Redhage, the former Breaker who compiled a game-high 32 points and pulled in 10 rebounds.
He helped his side won all four quarters, including the first when they raced 33-24 clear, which became 58-45 by halftime on their way to a 10th win in 11 matches against the Breakers at their Perth stronghold.
The Breakers played nothing like the team who beat Adelaide 82-78 on the road on Friday and will need to rediscover their form ahead of Friday's home match against Wollongong, who inherited the competition lead on points differential from the Breakers. Wollongong's 93-82 defeat of the winless Melbourne Tigers tonight lifts them to the same 5-1 win-loss record.
The Breakers should get the services of star shooter Kirk Penney, who missed this week's two matches to attend his brother's wedding in Italy.
Scoring duties were led tonight by Kevin Braswell, who scored 16 points, while Gary Wilkinson contributed 14 and Mika Vukona 11.
Statistics that measure a team's level of desperation, such as steals (9-1), turnovers (12-23) and rebounds (52-37), were where the hosts were most dominant, suggesting the Breakers struggled to lift mentally so soon after their Adelaide triumph.
