NZ Breakers smash holes in Bullets

The Breakers are now within touching distance of the Cairns Taipans for the allimportant second spot on the Australian NBL table as the end of the regular season comes into focus.

With a runaway 99-71 victory over the Brisbane Bullets at Nissan Arena on Thursday night, Mody Maor’s men improved to 15-10 for the season, with three regular season games remaining. They have now won two straight after dropping four on the bounce prior to that, and are 9-3 on the road.

The Kiwis sit third on the standings, but with the Wednesday night loss by the Taipans dropping them to

16-9, the Breakers are not without hope of catching the Queenslanders, and earning one of the two automatic semifinal spots. Aiding their cause is the fact the New Zealand outfit hold the tie-breaker with the superior points percentage.

The Breakers have three games remaining, with tonight’s pivotal matchup against finals-chasing Melbourne United in Auckland the toughest of them. They finish with final-round visits to the Illawarra Hawks and Bullets (again) to round out the regular season, and may need to win all three to grab second spot.

The Taipans conclude with games at home to the Bullets and Adelaide and then a challenging visit to the Perth Wildcats to wrap things up.

The Breakers were paced on Thursday night by another standout display by import power forward Jarrell Brantley who finished with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting in just 22 minutes. Centre Dererk Pardon added 17 points and 9 rebounds for the Kiwis and Barry Brown Jr showcased his class in his return from injury to chip

in with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting in just 15 minutes off the pine.

The Kiwi club also got 9 points apiece from Will McDowell-White. Tom Abercrombie (on just 3 shots), French teen Rayan Rupert and Cam Gliddon off the bench as they shot 55% from the floor, 42 from beyond the arc and kept Brisbane to just a 41% clip for their 71 points. The visitors led by just two (22-20) after the first period, but stretched their advantage to 15 by halftime, 20 at the three-quarter mark and a game-high 28 at the finish. The Bullets were paced by 20 points from in-form import Tyler Johnson and got 13 apiece from Aussie stars Aron Baynes and Nathan Sobey, but badly missed the playmaking abilities of injured point guard Jason Cadee.

Brantley, who is hitting prime form at the business end of the season, said the return of Brown (groin) and Le’afa (back) had provided crucial impetus for the Kiwi club as they looked to continue their standout form on the road.

‘‘It felt good having all our guys,’’ he said. ‘‘We could get back to defending and playing good, team basketball. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction.’’

Brantley felt the Breakers had been able to get back to their true identity with a full quota of players.

‘‘If we play to the scout and trust each other. I think we can be a very special defensive team – and that’s what we hang our hats on,’’ he added. The Kiwi club flew back to Auckland yesterday.