KEY POINTS:
Australian coaching great Brian Goorjian believes the New Zealand Breakers have the combinations and firepower to dominate in this year's Australian National Basketball League (ANBL).
The Breakers clambered past the Goorjian-coached South Dragons to the top of the table with 112-98 win in Auckland last night, leaving the Melbourne coach impressed.
"They're the best team we've played offensively in the half court," Goorjian told the ANBL website.
"They have a system that has been a four-or five-year build by (Breakers coach) Andrej Lemanis and they've got better and better and better.
"They've got more Tall Blacks players in the roster that understand how to play together."
The Breakers controlled the pace of what proved to be surprisingly one-sided clash between the league's top dogs.
They led at the close of each quarter before comfortably sealing a fourth consecutive win.
Breakers guards CJ Bruton and Kirk Penney were typically instrumental, scoring 27 and 20 points respectively, while Dragons counterparts Joe Ingles and Adam Gibson had 16 each.
All the key Breakers contributed, with big men Rick Rickert (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Oscar Forman (12 points, 13 rebounds) notching double-double performances while Tony Ronaldson nailed 19 points and six rebounds.
"We tried to come up the court at them and it just had no effect," said veteran coach Goorjian, who has crafted an incredibly successful career at club and international level.
"They controlled the tempo of the game - we're a long way from them, in that style of game."
Lemanis pointed to his team's adhesion to their game plan and growing confidence as key facets of the win.
"To put up 112 points against the most miserly team in the league is very pleasing and also to shoot at 50 per cent is excellent," Lemanis said.
"We did a good job of dealing with their pressure and they were never really able to take us out of what we wanted to do so that was very pleasing."
The Breakers, whose record improved to 11 wins and three losses near the halfway stage of the season, next host the Perth Wildcats on Thursday next week.
- NZPA
