Breakers hand out the prezzies tonight

The SKYCITY Breakers play their final home game of 2016 at Vector Arena tonight when they host great rivals the Perth Wildcats and in keeping with the Christmas themed game, the first 2,500 children through the door will receive a gift on entry! Tickets for the game start as low as $15 for adults in the bronze section, tickets are available online at www.nzbreakers.co.nz or at the door tonight, doors open at 6pm.

A bumper crowd is expected for a repeat of the 2016 NBL Grand Final, with Perth and the Breakers enjoying a rivalry like no other in the competition, having shared the past seven titles between them.

Perth have made the post season for the past 30 years, but in the most fiercely fought NBL in living memory, the Wildcats are 7 and 7 and in 4th place while the Breakers are themselves in an unfamiliar spot on the ladder in 7th with a 7-9 record.

But both are equally within touching distance of the top of the table, with the Sydney Kings atop the tree heading into the final round before Christmas with a 10-7 record and Adelaide second with 8 wins and 6 losses.

SKYCITY Breakers shooting guard Kirk Penney believes the team is ready for the challenge.

"We have spoken about this week a little bit and how much we would love to go into the Christmas break on the back of a win, feeling good about ourselves and looking forward to the next stage of the season after Christmas. I would love to get this win. But you just know what you are going to get from Perth. They give you nothing easy and we have an awesome rivalry with them, but a win would be a great way to go into the Christmas break for sure."

Penney spoke about the challenge without fellow guard Corey Webster who is out with injury.

"It is a huge game for us tomorrow at home, we will band together as we always do as a club and as a group and play the best way we can, putting our best foot forward. For all of us it is making sure we play the best we can individually so we can come together collectively and play well as a group.

"Every time you are playing with niggles it is difficult, you have to work through and do the best you can. With Corey not there I think there will be opportunities for many players to be fair, it is trying to fill the gaps where we can, Tommy and I might play more minutes tomorrow but guys like Finn might as well, we will just find a way to get it done and be the best we can on the night."

Head Coach Paul Henare is also looking forward to the challenge against the only other team to have their hands on the championship in the past seven years.

"Perth are a big physical team, I expect us to come out and match that physicality and intensity across the floor. For any player or coach every game is equally important, but there is something special about these clashes, the rivalry goes back a long way to even before we won our first championship, the team is looking forward to the challenge and will be ready to go at them from the opening buzzer.

"When you are a man down for whatever reason you can find the rest of the group can lift. For the short term while we look for a replacement I expect that to be the case, for the entire group this is another challenge but we dont shy away from them at this club."

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Basketball New Zealand