Friday, November 13, 2015, 6.30pm AEST, Vector Arena, New Zealand, watch on Fox Sports
Ladder position
New Zealand Breakers: Third
Perth Wildcats: Second
Season record
New Zealand Breakers: 4-4
Perth Wildcats: 6-3
Last five games
New Zealand Breakers: LWWWL
Perth Wildcats: LWLWW
THEY took on the top of the table Melbourne United and just fell short last weekend.
And now the New Zealand Breakers ($1.38 with CrownBet.com.au) have to deal with their most bitter rivals in the Perth Wildcats ($3.05 with CrownBet.com.au).
At least it’s on their home deck in New Zealand.
The Breakers were brilliant, gallant, but ultimately walked away without anything but pride in their controversial one point loss to United on Sunday, 87-86.
The loss snapped a three game winning streak, but it might have been different, had the referees let them play, rather than calling an unsportsmanlike foul on star Corey Webster that allowed United to ice the game.
Thomas Abercrombie led the way for the Breakers with 24 points and eight boards, but it was Cedric Jackson who controlled the game with a 16 point 14 rebound 10 assist triple double.
Webster had 15 and import Charles Jackson had 13.
Coach Dean Vickerman says break out power forward Tai Wesley all miss his second game in a row, this time with appendicitis, after he missed the Melbourne trip due to the birth of his first child, while veteran Mika Vukona is set to miss with a hamstring injury.
Vickerman says he’s focusing on who is available, rather than who isn’t.
“We are always focused on who we have and the roles they have, not on who is not there, that is wasted energy,” said Vickerman.
“Tai has had surgery and we are told it could be up to three weeks that he will miss while he recovers, that means an opportunity for others to step up. Reuben will again get more minutes in the four spot and we showed on Sunday in Melbourne that we can play Charles (Jackson) and Alex (Pledger) together to good effect.
“The group has dealt with this sort of thing the whole year, players coming and going, we will go into the game very similar to Melbourne
“This is a great rivalry, one the players look forward to and one that we as coaches look forward to.
The Wildcats added a little extra heat to this match by extending their lead over the third placed Breakers to two games, nailing down second spot with their own nail biting win, this one over the Illawarra Hawks on Wednesday night, 99-96.
The Wildcats survived another massive night from Hawks star AJ Ogilvy (25 points and 10 rebounds), 99-96, thanks largely to stellar point guard play of Jermaine Beal, who dropped 26 points, and aided by wild big man Matthew Knight who churned out yet another double double with 16 points and 12 boards.
Import Casey Prather had 19 points.
Forward Shawn Redhage says his side is preparing for a typically tough match up.
“(The Breakers) are always tough at home,” Redhage said.
“They’re sitting there fresh for us, but sometimes when you can get a win it can give you a little extra boost going in to your next game.
“It’s tough to get wins on the road in this league.
“I think that’s a great sign for us, when the chips are down we stay with it and battle.
“I think we’re a team that, even if things aren’t going our way, we can still battle and get a crucial road win.
“As a team we’re sitting pretty good, we’ve battled through and we’ve had a lot of road games.
“We’ve got a tough game against New Zealand, but (the victory over Illawarra) gives us a little momentum going into that game.
“It’s going to be a tough stretch over these next couple of weeks.
“We’re still growing as a team and hopefully the win can spur us to a little win streak.”
Predictions
Match result: New Zealand Breakers win ($1.38 with CrownBet.com.au)
Line: Perth Wildcats +5.5 ($1.90 with CrownBet.com.au)
We give this one to the Breakers – but only just. They fell desperately short against Melbourne United on the weekend and almost rolled Perth at home earlier this season, when they went down, 83-80 in Perth. The home court advantage should help them tilt the tables in this one. An indication of how even and hard fought this rivalry is is the overall record between the two teams, sitting at 25-23, Perth’s away. But the Breakers have won 17 of 24 at home and we think it’s about to be 18 of 25. In the earlier match up, Beal had 19 to go with six dimes and Knight had yet another double double. But there was no Corey Webster for the Breakers and his production, coupled with the talents of the two Jacksons and Abercrombie should give the Breakers too much firepower. But not too much to cover the line. All their games with sides in the upper echelon have been tight this season and we think this one is no exception. The line is 5.5, we’ll split the difference and go with the Breakers by three points.
