Breakers 105
Tigers 91
KEY POINTS:
There won't be many teams queuing up to come to Auckland for the NBL playoffs.
Last night, the Breakers crushed genuine title contenders the Melbourne Tigers to serve notice that they will be a force in post-season.
The win, their fourth-straight during the end-of-season run-in, took the Breakers to equal fourth with two games to play.
It also ensured they finished the regular season with a home record of 11-4, with two of those losses coming in the first week of the season when star guard Kirk Penney was injured.
The Breakers started and finished fast in what was one of their most comprehensive displays of the season.
Trips to Sydney and Perth will decide their final playoff ranking but for now they have caught a jump on a packed field, leapfrogging Gold Coast and Townsville.
There was no repeat of last week's slow start, when the Breakers managed just 12 points in what was the second worst opening quarter in the club's brief history. In that match the Breakers needed to overturn an 18-point deficit to beat Perth. Last night it was the Tigers who found themselves chasing the game.
Led by point guard Orien Greene's nine first-quarter points, the Breakers stormed to a 16-2 lead.
The Tigers woke up midway through the quarter but, with Tony Ronaldson and Derrick Alston effective in the paint, the Breakers eased to a 30-18 quarter-time lead.
A late Tigers charge at the end of the second quarter cut the deficit to six but a buzzer-beating three from Greene meant the Breakers led by nine at the break.
It was the Tigers, however, who appeared to have the momentum going into the second half. Having tried and largely failed to match the Breakers' outside shooting, the visitors enjoyed much more success close to the hoop, where the beanpole figure of Chris Anstey was a constant threat.
The second-placed Tigers had also begun to dominate the boards, pulling in nine offensive rebounds to the Breakers' two.
But once again it was the Breakers who started fast, with Penney and Oscar Foreman knocking down threes to push the lead out to 19 points.
Anstey did his best to inspire the Tigers with 22 points and 10 rebounds, but his was rather a lone hand against a Breakers side that had five players in double figures. Penney led the home side with 24 points, while Greene ended with 20 to go with his six assists.
