I will feel pretty confident of the 3peat happening if NZ gets homecourt advantage and if they win this game they should get the minor premiership.
Cats aren't going to lay down though.

The Breakers have announced via FB that they have sold out 7,700 tickets so they have decided to erect Vector Arena's Eastern Stand for Friday's game. This means there will be a further 700 tickets available, taking capacity to just over 8,500.
It's not quite the capacity of Perths new arena but def a decent crowd for basketball in rugby mad Auckland.

Tovey to miss the game. Won't be a problem from a scoring point of view, but he is very valuable on the boards and pushing the ball up the court. Big loss.

He would have prob got the job of guarding Abercrombie yes/no?

Hire has been starting, but yes, he would seem like a likely match-up.

Huge game. Cant wait.

I thought the capacity at Vector was 9,100? Anyway, really glad its being played there to what should be a sold out crowd for a game that deserves a big audience.

I really hope the Perth media (looking at you Channel 7) get behind this game and give it the build up it deserves also. I know Channel 10 and 9 will support it.

Without a doubt the game of the season so far.

Game of the season...



Not being shown on TV on Friday night..

There hasn't been a regular season game between these two on tv for the past three years, or something.

Just want the players to decide the game not the refs! Should be a cracker! Tovey out means gd news, he has gone 2 shite the past 2 seasons. Perth havnt played a game as a fully fit team. I think the differnce why perth has beaten nz, is wilkinson not there! I still belive come playoffs on a mini series they are gona miss him! Would be nice if had a repeat of last yrs gf! I realy cant and might be wrong saying this, but nz and perth deserve 2 be top 2! For what they do on and off court! Bring it on!

"Tovey out means gd news, he has gone 2 shite the past 2 seasons"

#ignorant

Tovey brings a bit of length and athletism defensively otherwise Abercrombie will just pull up and elevate with that mid range J of his.

Wilkinson was good offensively especially from outside but I like our D with Pledger/Hudson.

This is gonna be a great game, can't believe it isn't going to be on tv in Staya especially as both teams have a few days of clear daylight between them and the rest of the comp. I'm just glad it's a Sky Sports production instead of NBL t.V so they won't cut to a Coach when someone is scoring and the score will pop up on the screen as will the shot clock and when there is a highlight play, we will get to see it again.

Yeah disappointed it ain't on tv aswell.

I believe they have to bring in extra seating to hold that many, which they did from last year's GF. I think it's 7,700 for seating which is there, and then they have to pay to bring in extras. Someone who knows better please feel free to add/correct.

It's funny I've seen Perth dominate Breakers in both games this season and I been crying out for this game to come fully believing wildcats would destroy the breakers again but as the game gets closer I'm beginning to feel it will be a lot closer and I think other teams have been playing Breakers into form of late (they were shocking against Townsville and Adelaide a few rounds back)

Without Tovey it will be interesting to see if the Wildcats go big or small when 'Greg 4 Hire' is off the court. I think Rhys Carter will see some minutes against Abercrombie

Breakers offense was woeful early in the season when Perth owned them. It is now starting to flow and the shots are dropping especially from beyond the arc which will be needed against Perths zone.

This is the type of game you dream of as a promoter !

Yep if only the NBL could promote! Nothing yet on the NBL website about this game. How on earth is mainstream media going to get on board if its own league wont promote it!

Hopefully there'll be some last minute build up before the game actually starts.
At least its sold out and theres a bit of a buzz in Perth and i imagine Auckland will be talking about it already...

All over print media and tv in NZ.

Good item on the 6pm news sports segment here in NZ with the Breakers training down at Atlas place. They got some comments from Corletto and Bruton and then some quotes from Bevo all just talking up the rivalry between them. I expect the media will all be at training tomorrow also.

Shaping up for a decent game, lets hope the refs let the teams decide who wins rather than their whistles.
Massive shame that you guys don't get the kind of coverage we get.

the Breakers are 17/3 and playing the best they have all year. #3peat

we've used up all the "get out of jail" cards in this seasons monopoly game. Sydney, Wollongong, Townsville have all come down to the wire. Winning is winning though and NZ have done well to get the important wins over perth (the Semi series and last seasons Finals series).
If NZ continue to shoot well I think they will get the W, if not Perth are going home with the bragging rights and a serious mental edge heading into the playoffs.

Just wori when u the time comes! Perth can win it home or away! Come finals time dont realy care where home court is.

This is a frikkin embarrassing performance by the Cats

He has been shite so far but give the guy some time to settle in. Tough stage of the season to come into a team with high expectations.

Hard to accuse the Breakers shooting of being flukey when so many of their shots were wide open. Sure a couple of those Cedric 3s were lucky, but other than that it was just solid shooters doing their thing.

Great win and it goes a long way towards home court come the playoffs.
Solid performance from the Breakers bench especially Webster but Leon Henry contributed well and Jackson was his usual Mr Amazing and must be a lock for MVP by now (how deep was that trey on the shotclock?!).

18/3 and 10 in a row

"Rhys Carter has gone backwards"

Of course he has! So has Liam Rush. If you spend years in a lowly comp it's generally going to be hard to step back up.

Give him some time though.

Breakers are just a class above the rest. The Wildcats are the only team that can take it up to NZ, but in the end the breakers have an extra gear that no other team can go to when they're hot.

HCA is locked up in my opinion, but the title is still there to be won for the Wildcats.

RE TV Coverage - is Channel 10 simply not interested in taking on the Sky Sports feed?? I know they don't care about ratings obviously (otherwise they would have found a way to show this game) and are happy to do nothing for the league, but they would have saved themselves production costs surely if they showed this game, rather than put on the snooze fest that was by showing the two coldest teams right now, headed by the boring Carfino, in front of a half full stadium.

Would have been a great advert for the league to show the top two teams, who have a genuine rivalry in front of a packed 9500 fans in an NBA quality atmosphere. But then, it's another waste of an opportunity to help grow the league. Seriously, it's an 8 team league, and the only broadcaster in Australia refuses to show NZ home games. It's bloody poor. It's like Ch 7 not showing Collingwood or Hawthorn from the MCG for no reason at all.

Piss off, Gerard.