New Zealand Breakers vs Melbourne Tigers
February 27, 2009 11:00 am BasketballWhere and When: Friday 27 February, North Shore Events Centre, 7.30pm (NZDT)
Past Three Head-to-Head
Melbourne Tigers 117-99 New Zealand Breakers, Semi-final, game one 2009.
Melbourne Tigers 95-89 New Zealand Breakers, Round 19 2009.
New Zealand Breakers 85-103 Melbourne Tigers, Round 19 2009.
Season Series
Series tied 2-2
Final Standings
Breakers (18-12) third, Tigers (20-10) second
The equation is simple for the New Zealand Breakers – win and they head to Melbourne to play off for the right to play in the grand final – lose and their season is over.
The Breakers will enter this clash with some confidence given their impressive 10-5 win-loss record at home.
But the Melbourne Tigers will also fancy their chances of winning the semi-final series 2-0 given that they defeated the Breakers at the North Shore Events Centre by 18 points in round 19.
Game one was a one-sided contest with the Tigers taking a 15-point lead into the main break before cruising to a 117-99 victory.
The Breakers are the best three-point shooting team in the NBL but it was Melbourne that lit it up from beyond the arc, connecting on 16-of32 attempts from three-point land.
New Zealand will need to step up their perimeter defence and not give the likes of David Barlow, Luke Kendall and star import Ebi Ere any time or space to knock down the three-ball.
For the Breakers, guards CJ Bruton and Kirk Penney and veteran Tony Ronaldson all had productive games in game one but they received little support with Oscar Forman and Phill Jones failing to fire.
Forman managed a meagre three points while Jones finished with just four points – well down on their season averages of 13.4 and 14.7 points per game.
If the Breakers are going to keep their season alive they need Forman and Jones to get involved early.
In game one Melbourne had 16 more free-throw attempts than New Zealand.
The Breakers may be deadly from three-point range but they will also need to attack the basket and try and get the likes of Chris Anstey, Ere and co. into early foul trouble.
New Zealand will undoubtedly lift in front of their home crowd and put in a better performance than they did on Wednesday night but the Tigers simply have too many scorers for the Breakers to contain and should prevail in what shapes as being an epic clash.
This punter believes the smart money is on a Tigers’ win by 1-10, offering $2.85.