Perth Wildcats dragged the two-time defending champions New Zealand Breakers down to earth courtesy of a 93-72 win in Friday's NBL season opener.
In front of a sell-out Auckland crowd, the Wildcats gained some measure of revenge for their loss to the Breakers in last year's grand final series, applying pressure that caused the rusty-looking hosts to crumble.
The Wildcats' defensive heat and some clunky Breakers offence were behind a lopsided second quarter, which saw the visitors open up a 54-34 half-time lead.
The hosts made little headway on that margin throughout the second half as the Wildcats turned what had been touted as a tantalising opening match between two teams expected to feature prominently this season into a coasting victory.
The Wildcats dominated nearly every important statistic, most notably shooting accuracy where their 53 per cent ratio eclipsed the Breakers' 44 per cent.
They also won the rebound battle 36-24 and scored 44 points in the paint compared to 26 from the hosts.
Having opened up an early six-point lead, the Breakers slumped to trail by as much as 25 late in the second quarter as the offensive fluency that has carried them to the last two titles deserted them.
Forward Matthew Knight led all scorers with 24 for the Wildcats, getting good support from Shawn Redhage (19), Damian Martin (18) and Kevin Lisch (16).
Breakers star guard Cedric Jackson was kept quiet in the first half but still top-scored for them with 16 and Dillon Boucher was next best with 11.
Meanwhile, the Hawks held off Sydney Kings to win their encounter 79-76 in Wollongong.
AAP
Tags: basketball, nbl, sport, new-zealand, perth-6000 First posted October 05, 2012 20:21:33
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