Gold Coast Blaze vs New Zealand Breakers
November 29, 2008 11:00 am CricketWhere and When: Saturday 29 November, Gold Coast Convention Centre, 7.30pm (AEST)
Past Three Head-to-Head
Gold Coast Blaze 113-116 New Zealand Breakers, Round 6 2008.
New Zealand Breakers 120-108 Gold Coast Blaze, Round 5 2008.
New Zealand Breakers 126-93 Gold Coast Blaze, Round 17 2008.
Season Series
Breakers 2-0
Current Standings
Blaze (2-13) 10th, Breakers (12-3) second
The Gold Coast Blaze are well and truly out of finals contention and have nothing but pride to play for while the Breakers are a genuine contender for this year’s championship.
The Breakers consolidated their place in the top two with a come-from-behind win against Perth on Thursday.
The win was made even more impressive by the fact that league-leading scorer Kirk Penney failed to have a meaningful impact on the contest.
Guards Phill Jones and CJ Bruton stepped up, scoring 22 points apiece while Oscar Forman chimed in with 19 valuable points to help lift the Breakers to a 108-94 victory.
The Blaze match up pretty well against the Breakers with Ben Melmeth, Pero Cameron, Casey Frank and import Justin Bowen more than capable of holding their own against the Breakers’ big men while
Shane Heal and James Harvey are dangerous from beyond the arc.
Doubts remain over whether Harvey (hamstring) will take his place in the side and if he fails to suit up it will be a huge blow for the Blaze who will struggle to match the Breakers who are not only the highest scoring team in the league but also the most efficient side in the NBL from three-point land.
Brendan Joyce’s men should be fresh and ready for this match given that they haven’t played since November 16 and while they are capable of causing an upset the Breakers simply have too much depth and should prevail.
The last three clashes between these two sides have been high-scoring affairs, so my money is on a total match points of between 211-220 points, offering $4.00.