NZ for me. I can't see them dropping two home finals in a row. Penny will carry them again.

I think NZ will be too strong and won't be beaten twice in a row, in finals, at home.
Penney will have another good game but I'm predicting CJ's experience to shine through, and he will make some big plays, along with Braswell. Vukona is key for them and if he can stay in the game, NZ will stay confident and look a much better team. The Perth D will once again be tough but the refs are aware of their level of physicality and will call the game as such.

NZ by 7.

I actually think the pressure of playing a series deciding game 3 at home may prove to much considering the Wildcats defensive style of game. Defence will eventually prevail IMO, Perth by 2.

Perth by 12 points if NZ shoot the 3 all night . Need more than that to nock over the champs

Live stats for the game are available at http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/1411/00/26/67/13uGdboOhX2k/

NZ looking solid to half time. Really pushed it out for the last half of the second quater. Perth offense looking dull at best.

I noticed Abercrombie making change from the top of the backboard , in the second.
Even though it may have never been done before.
( NZ look a little better team at the half.)

Both teams have had 10 players hit the court by half-time. I know foul trouble has impacted them, but foul trouble is not new to the league. I think in the 2002 finals, the 36ers almost exclusively stuck to eight guys, and that was in a 48 minute game? Don't have a media guide with me but I think Holmes and Forman were 9th and 10th men and didn't play finals?

Definite change in the game style over the last decade.

NBL live scores don't appear to be working

Rod, Marc Howard has posted a link above that is working - i was looking on the nbl site above. Thanks Marc!

Brown ejected for hitting vukona!! Wow that almost really blew into a huge situation!! Players arms, shirts, body everywhere!! Just awesome!

One thing is for sure that if the 36ers were to play these teams tomorow they would get beaten by 50!!!!
Commenters hopeless too!!!!

Whats that thing growing off Penney's chin.....the others i can deal with....his not so much!

"anyone else think the wildcats are just playing dirty the last couple minutes?" Where have you been all season?

Fizzle I agree, I think Penney is just trying to look tougher or something.

3 Pointer, I think the commentators in NZ are great and do a better job then the ones here.

Big win to the Breakers. The better and deeper team came through in the end.

Thug act by Brown on Vukona.
It looked like Vukona was pulling Brown away from Wilkinson, but they were obviously having words as well, then Brown popped Vukona in the mouth. That was the definite end of Perth right there.

sick of fizzle!!

Oh orbit take it easy... everything will be ok....after he shaves!

Perth went down fighting , .., ..literally.....

Think the refs deserved wat mika got!!!! At least we saw the beast!!! 4 the 1st tym n last time!!! Any keep count ove the fouls again? We couldnt even look at the breakers, wouldve got called 4 an unsportsman like foul!! Very dissapointed how the semis got dictated by three poofs!!! Proud ove the perth wildcats without redhage!!!! Injuries overall another great season!! Bring on october!!!

who do you think has the best chance of beating NZ in NZ? Townsville or Cairns?

GKcats- you are being a sore loser! Cj and abercrombie got fouled out on sunday and you're not complaining about that! Also, the fouls in the 3rd and 4th were warrented, brown and lisch deserved those fouls- stupid and cheap! In the words of Dillon Boucher "BOOM"

GKcats has been an embarassment to true Wildcats fans all season, so the latest outburst of bad taste is no surprise.

Congrats to the Breakers. Evidently they just needed a good thrashing to re-wake them, but now that they're back in early season form they're going to be tough as hell to stop in the grand finals. Just too good in games 2 & 3. The Cats aren't exactly a shabby defensive unit so when our opposition piles on 99 points it's a fair indication that they're traveling ok.
It's going to take something pretty special from Cns/Tsv to knock them off now.

Props to the Wildcats on a very tough series, Townsville have prob dug a small hole by dropping that final reg game and sending Perth against NZ if they can get past the Taipans. NZ are now extremely well prepared for Finals Basketball and all the pressure that comes with it after this tough physical series that included some long flights for both teams.
Andre Brown is an idiot for lashing out at Mika Vukona right in front of the ref and he pretty much killed off any chance at a Wildcats comeback. Wagstaff was huge all series for Perth, got open and hit his shots and showed some grit and hustle as did Tovey. Trueman had a pretty rough game but played his heart out against his former team and will be well disappointed with loosing.
How high did Abercrombie get up for that block in the second? Damn!!!
Wilkinson bought some much needed energy to the paint at both ends and attacked the rim and was perfect from the field for a large part of the game.
Penney was just Penney and CJ got vocal and helped NZ out with his composure and experience.
Pledger stepped up when needed inside.
Vukona was almost everywhere and had his team mates backs when push came to shove literally.
Cory Webster came on and got his hands in the cookie jar straight away and Boucher did all the little things at both ends that he does so well.

Great series now bring on the Finals!!!

Reffing probably evened out over the series, and the Breakers were deserved winners in what was a great series to watch.

One thought, how much better would Wagstaff and Weigh be if they stopped attempting threes and spotted up at mid range? They are both money from 15-20 feet but ugly from three point range. Not sure why Beveridge hadnt picked this up earlier.

Ashman has video of the scuffle on YouTube here:

Some will have different parlance , but for me .. ..NZ were...convincing winners.
I switched to pathos for Lisch n Brown - frustrated
and for Bevo n D.Martin who'd been like a theif in the nite, but couldn't get into this game.

Agreed Paul, both have nice medium range jumpshots that drop. I guess with all the Breakers firepower behind the arc they were trying to keep their team in the game.
After surviving that tough series I believe the Breakers can get up in the finals against either Cairns or Townsville.

Game 1 of the NBL Finals Series in Auckland has already sold out. 2000 tickets had sold 2 hours after last nights final whistle and the rest sold overnight. Great that Auckland and NZ are getting right behind this team and making the NSEC a tough place for opposition teams to get wins.

DJ Rod: I would rather get Cairns over Townsville as Cairns haven't beaten NZ all season where Townsville caned us at their gym. I think NZ match up better with Cairns across the court.
Breakers showed some backbone to get through the defending champs and make the final.

Hard to see Townsville losing the decider, they are absolutely due for an offensive outburst and I think this will be the game following a couple of poor offensive games.

I also think it is gonna be a Breakers Vs Crocs final Paul but I would love for Phil Jones and the Taipans to prove me wrong.
How great would that series have been if it was the Finals.

Missed yesterday's game...NZ have stepped it up and for mine the NBL title is now theirs to lose. Best team all season and they should now go on to win the title.

I am happy to be proven wrong.

I see Ubaka n Dorsey as gamebreakers... maybe if they played a full game, but they won't. Therefore , Townsville being a little deeper, will win, due to that.
NZ are deeper than Townsville and will win that GF play-off.

Well, that's the way it goes... ..with all the subs n 10 players, these days.

Maybe we'll see the NBL bring in a cap on rotations and/or a substitute rule to reduce the intensity of the defence?!

The deeper teams win,,.. while the stars sit on the bench

U People i think dnt realy understant wat f u talk about!!! Sore loosers why perth no 1!! 25yrs in row to the play offs next yr 26!!!

LOL

gkcats- you are the sore loser- not the perth wildcats- bevo and the cats have moved on, but you clearly haven't!! respect the better team and stfu until next season, when perth with redhage will go well again!

anonymous- what culture are you talking about? give us some insight? i don't think andre brown would be wanted back in perth. the guy missed many easy baskets and was not what the cats needed/promised!!!! BOOM!!!

Perth are a great team and would have gone back to back if they had of snuck past NZ.

So anon, Beveridge is found out because his team lost one game? Against a clearly more talented team? But I guess he had nothing to do with getting them to the finals (missing his best player) or winning that first game in NZ when they were massive underdogs?

Dang people post some rubbish on here.

In semi finals each year two good teams lose two games in a week! A great year from Beveridge and the Wildcats.

well said Paul.

Wildcats needed to get scoring from Weigh in particular, Williamson and Andre Brown, who was almost redundant.
Matt Knight was huge but he could not shoulder the burden alone. He got good support from the bench, but Breakers took them out defensively in 2nd half and the Wildcats half court game let them down.
Breakers are always going to tough to contain and they are always going to put points on the board.
Hard to see Crocs getting close if they make it and Cairns have no show if they survive.