Thomas Abercrombie. Photo / Getty Images
What has been a tick over 16 years in the making is now just 40 minutes of basketball away from becoming reality.
The Breakers tonight made the perfect start in their quest to become the first New Zealand team to win a professional Australian league, blitzing the Cairns Taipans 85-67 in the first match of the best-of-three Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) finals series in Auckland.
The Breakers overcame a tentative start to dominate a Taipans side that did little to suggest it will reverse a mediocre recent record against the Auckland-based team, who have won all four meetings between the two teams this season and seven of the past eight matches.
Given the lop-sided nature of tonight's matchup at the North Shore Events Centre, the odds are firmly in their favour as they seek one win from the remaining two matches, in Cairns on Sunday and, if needed, in Auckland again next Friday.
Should they get that win, they would become the first New Zealand-based team to win a professional Australian national league, snapping the 34 completed seasons New Zealand rugby league, soccer and basketball teams have collectively fallen short in since rugby league's Warriors surfaced in 1995.
Sizzling second and third quarters from the Breakers -- at one point they stretched out to a 30-point lead -- set up the victory as shooting star Kirk Penney again provided the hot hand, landing four from eight from beyond the three-point arc in a game-high haul of 25 points.
American forward Gary Wilkinson had 15 points while centre Alex Pledger was outstanding in his 13-point contribution and swingman Thomas Abercrombie also featured prominently in what was a top team performance, the Taipans outmuscled across the court and frustrated by a poor shooting night.
Cairns made the early running in the first quarter, pressing the Breakers with their league-leading defence and forcing the home team into early foul trouble as the Taipans scored nine of their first 11 points from the free-throw line.
But that was where their joy ended.
The visitors were woeful from the field in the first half as the Breakers started to get some momentum which they continued that into a defining second stanza, winning the quarter 24-13 as the Taipans' shooting percentage from the floor dropped to a dismal 11 per cent at one stage in the face of a concerted Breakers defensive effort.
Taipans coach Aaron Fearne bemoaned the fact his team were being "outworked" and it was certainly difficult to argue with his assessment, the Breakers showing more hunger for the loose ball and on the boards to completely dominate the second 10 minutes and take a 41-27 lead into the major break.
Fearne's mood would not have improved when he was forced to call a timeout just 46 seconds into the second half and the Breakers, on the back of a Penney shooting streak, at one stage ran away to a 63-33 lead.
But as he so often does former Breaker and Tall Blacks legend Phill Jones got hot late in the third quarter, the 'Reefton Kid' nailing a trifecta of three-pointers as Cairns closed to 70-52. It was a brief respite only for the visitors, however, the Breakers regaining their composure in the final quarter.
GAME RECAP:
- NZPA