NBL injury report says that Petrie and Ubaka are unlikely.

Ubaka is no chance, may even struggle to get back for finals if the Blaze make it :(

Petrie however is a chance - I believe he is seeing a specialist this morning and from there a decision will be made to jump on a plane to NZ or miss the first game and go straight to Melbourne

Without Petrie it is a real uphill battle for the Blaze and they will need to again shoot the lights out to have any chance. Gibbo will have to continue his recent hot streak. Bradshaw as well will have to pull his finger out and play hard at both ends of the floor. Unfortunately I cant see it hapening and Im tipping the Breakers to get up. Hopefully we can keep it close and have the margin under 7 points.

Quite amazing that last Friday night we were celebrating the win over Perth and taking top spot and now within a week we could be facing the prospect of missing out on finals all together!

Petrie rolled his ankle yesterday at training

Expecting a real good game tonight, gutted I have to work otherwise I'd be @ NSEC for sure. Gonna have to play well to beat GC

Amazing game of basketball, Breakers have so many guys who can contribute. Blaze up against it now, they could really do with Petre on Saturday.

Breakers offence do it easy. Balanced scoring from everyone and everywhere. Braswell made huge difference. Team is playing and shooting with authority now and not "must have baskets".
Blaze ran out of gas esp Gibson. Hard to see them not being run over by Melbourne.
Bradshaw came to light in second half. He was sawn off by the ref on that last charge. Looked like a clear 3 point play to me.
We look a team that could go all the way if Melbourne give us the chance.

FFS it's like watching an U12's game with these amateurs refereeing. Get the bloody Flight of the Conchords to do it if they're that desperate, at least they have functional eyes.

Apart from that it was a great game. Lol at Vukona being able to shoot now!

good win for the Breakers, Penney is just class

One day a year when he has something to prove, Vukona just explodes and that was him in this game. Those dunks were awesome.

Great, tense game and a good showing from the Blaze considering they were down Petrie and Ubaka while the Breakers were full strength.

NZ had efficient contributors everywhere to hold on in the end, but are still relying on other results which is a bit frustrating.

Its not the first time that Vukona has come out and played in a "big game". Remember last year..Tall Blacks vs Boomers in Wellington.
Mika had 25 big points up against giants (compared to his 6"6 frame) like Jawai, Ogilvy and Baynes.

Mika steps up when he needs to, props to him.

Yeah, for him, it was a direct repeat of that Tall Blacks game. What makes him harder to defend when he's "on" is that if they try to stop him shooting, he will just get around them. In that situation though, I think the scouting report and instructions have to adjust and prioritise stopping the shot and making sure someone rotates to block him at the basket.

His dunk after he got around Trueman was exactly what we need more of in the league.

Hes going to need to do it again on Saturday night too if we have any chance....

Breakers were just too good down the stretch and executed their plays well. Blaze gave it their best shot but just couldnt get it done :(

yeah I agree Isaac, people want to see guys take it strong to the hole and flush it in traffic instead of just pop away from outside

The Bradshaw charge with just over 3 minutes remaining was the turning point. The Blaze players thought it was was a blocking foul, with the points counting, Bradshaw to the line and the margin back to just 5.

But with the charge call, the Blaze seemed to switch into defense mode like the win was suddenly out of reach. From this point it looked like they were just going to cover the points spread.

Of course this kind of strategy never seems to work and with just 1 from 5 field shots during the last 2:30, the Blaze finished very poorly.

It should be noted in that their last two losses, the Blaze have been up against some very hot shooting with both the Hawks and Beakers each hitting %53 from the field. If this wasn't enough, the Breakers %62 clip from the 3 point line last night was actually bettered by the Hawks last Saturday who shot %69 against the Blaze.

Still, a good effort from essentially a 7-man Blaze roster last night. For the sake of all Blaze supporters, lets hope Petrie can recover and make it in time for tomorrow's season defining game against the Tiges.