New Zealand Breakers v Perth Wildcats: Breakers own worst enemy as winning run ends

Anthony Lamb of the Breakers in action against the Wildcats. Photo / Photosport

NZ Breakers 102

Perth Wildcats 108

The Breakers’ winning streak will have to start anew.

In front of a 6280-strong crowd – the team’s largest home crowd of the season – the Breakers were the architects of their own demise as they fell to a 108-102 loss to the Perth Wildcats on Sunday afternoon.

The Breakers gave the Wildcats 39 attempts from the free throw line in the match, with the visitors making 35 of them.

With 16 of those attempts coming in the first half, it allowed the visitors to stay with the Breakers despite making just 37 per cent of their first half shot attempts, and they attacked in the second half to take over the game.

With 46 fouls called in total (27 against the Breakers) it made for a long game, but ultimately the Breakers’ season-changing winning streak was ended at four games, after they had worked their way back into the top six.

“We played against a very good team, and I think they taught us a little bit of a lesson about what wins games,” Breakers coach Mody Maor said.

“For big parts of the game today we didn’t do the small things that are very important to winning, and when you play against the best in the competition and don’t do those things, your chances to win are very small.”

“These are great lessons. We’re not supposed to win every game until the end of the season, so playing against this level of competition and getting these lessons now is super important and I hope we implement them.”

Perth came into the contest missing Corey Webster and Alex Sarr – the projected No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft – and the side struggled to find their way with a new rotation early; Keanu Pinder’s 10 early points keeping the visitors in touching distance as the Breakers came out of the gates firing and kept Bryce Cotton well contained.

Import Anthony Lamb again started well for the hosts, his 12 points leading the Breakers to an 11-point lead after the first 10 minutes.

But the second quarter saw a worrying trend begin for the home side as they began to foul the visitors back into the game. Perth finished the first half having made just 37 per cent of their shot attempts – the Breakers over 50 – but were sent to the free throw line for 16 attempts. They’re called free throws for a reason, and Perth made every one.

It saw foul trouble fall on Mantas Rubstavicius, who had made a strong start to the game, and big man Mangok Mathiang, and allowed the Wildcats to go into halftime just five points behind despite having made seven fewer field goal attempts than their hosts.

The break didn’t help the Breakers, as they picked up where they left off – committing soft fouls that allowed the Wildcats to continue through with their shot and convert a number of three-point plays.

Perth took the lead midway through the third quarter, and it was the Breakers who began struggling on offence. By this point, Cotton had begun to take advantage of the Breakers’ foul trouble and attack.

While the Breakers were on the receiving end of a questionable call or two, they couldn’t shake things off, and Perth ended the quarter with a 10-point lead.

They blew that lead out to as many as 18 points in the fourth quarter, and while the Breakers tried to fight back, they couldn’t climb out of the hole they had gotten themselves into.

NZ Breakers 102 (Zylan Cheatham 27 points, Anthony Lamb 25)

Perth Wildcats 108 (Bryce Cotton 31 points, Keanu Pinder 18)

1Q: 35-24. HT: 58-53. 3Q: 77-87.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.