Fast Break Finals Report, Game 2: Perth or Bust
NZ Breakers 72-68 Perth Wildcats
There will be a game three. The season continues for a couple more days and it will all be decided in Perth on Sunday night, the Breakers and the Wildcats. Winner takes absolutely everything.
That’s because for the sixth time this season between these two teams, the home side came out victorious. The Breakers held serve at the NSEC, surviving a few scares to take game two of the finals and keep the dream alive. At least until Sunday. Hey, no illusions here, winning on the road in Perth is going to be the toughest test in a season not short on those for this squad of players. But they ran them close last time and there’s a prevailing sense of purpose in the Breakers organisation that always seems to see them through when it matters. Even in this game.
We won’t go full on into all the happenings because, dammit, it got nerve-rattling there more than once. These are the two best defensive teams in the NBL and it showed. Points were hard to come by, they had to be earned all the way. The Breakers shot 39% and the ‘Cats 35%. Arguably the difference in the game was the first four minutes in which the home side shot out to a 9-0 lead, the highlight being an Abercrombie treble, while Perth missed their first six field goal attempts. Nate Jawai jammed one home 3:57 after tip off to get them on the board. But Jermaine Beal is a proper baller. He then took his team on his back for a few minutes and combine him with a few late Jesse Wagstaff buckets and somehow Perth were up 17-16 after the first quarter.
Tai Wesley came up with a few handy points in the second as early turnovers and missed shots threatened the Breakers. This was a must win after all, otherwise Perth were raising the trophy in front of them and their fans on their home court. Three minutes into that Q, Webster drilled a three from way deep over the top of Damian Martin. Right at the death of the shot clock. That’s huge stuff, though it was his first field goal of the night.
And as the second quarter went on the Breakers began to assert some ascendancy. Beal had put the Wildcats back in front with a three pointer and the lead swung a couple times after that but in the final few minutes of the half the score went from tied at 29-29 to a 37-31 HT lead for the Breaks. Vukona and Wesley with the late flourish.
Cedric Jackson had his fingerprints on most things as is the custom. He suddenly found form with his jump shot late in the regular season and that carried into the Melbourne series, though against the Wildcats it hasn’t been so flash. Still, you have to credit him for never giving up. The way that this team is built, it’s important that Webster and Jackson are the guys that get things done. They have to live and die that way, if Jackson, a notoriously average three point shooter but also a notoriously big game player, trends towards the former then it’s trouble. He shot 1/10 three pointers in this clash, that one being the first made bucket of the third to put NZB up by 9.
A couple Webby free throws would get that lead as high as 11, although just like Jackson he was having a nightmare of a time shooting. At least Jackson was able to get inside with a few layups. Webster tried the same strategy but would miss all nine of this 2pt attempts. It was interesting to see Coach Vickerman stagger the lineup with Jackson or Webster always in on those rare sets with the second unit. Curiously as well, Reuben Te Rangi got 10 minutes off the bench, more than he’s generally been getting, and while the guy can be a borderline awful shooter, he responded with some of his best defence of the season. Shout out to him, depth can be so important in a finals series. RTR also had 4 rebounds.
Perth were hardly going away without a fight. The Breakers led by three scores for most of the third but it swung late with a slightly controversial call on Cedric. Shawn Redhage went up for a layup which Ced contested late, a silly move really. The basket counted, so did the foul, and it was surprisingly called a flagrant. Meaning once Redhage made the FT they also got possession back and Casey Prather banked that for two more. Lead cut in a near-instant from 9 to 4. Being a tough, grinding affair, the 3Q then settled into free throws and the Breakers were mostly able to do okay there (for now), although they did leave a few points behind. 56-50 after three, 10 more minutes to go…
A quarter that began with the Breakers trying to force the issue but that only meant for misses from deep out of the hands of Cedric and Corey. Prather cut the lead to four and then Jawai to three from the line. Then Cedric and Mika were able to add a little parity. It was all on when Prather flushed a triple with 6:36 to play, though. Suddenly the lead was only two and the crowd were getting nervous. Maybe you couldn’t hear a pin drop but you also couldn’t hear too many shots dropping. A few hearts, perhaps. Pledger went to the FT stripe and came back with 1/2. Abercrombie jumped the rebound on the second, which gave NZB the chance for effectively a free possession. Jackson missed a three.
But Jermaine Beal didn’t. He tied this sucker all up at 61. Beal was brilliant for the ‘Cats, about the only player on the court who could be trusted for offence all night. He’d top all scorers with 20 points – no small feat in a game as compacted as this. After Abercrombie missed a three with the score at 65-65 and 2:23 to play, we had our first of three decisive moments late on in the contest. It was an insane period of play where Perth made four consecutive offensive rebounds. But somehow, someway, they weren’t able to count any one of the five shots they got off, an agonising spell finally broken by Mika Vukona when he hauled in the rebound. 22 seconds later we had decisive moment #2 as Abercrombie made only his second three of the night. To somehow survive that onslaught unscathed and then to go right on ahead and punish their opponents’ wastefulness like that… championship stuff, dare we all say it.
Decisive moment #3 almost came with 33 seconds on the clock as Tai Wesley missed both free throws with the lead at only one. Except that Matt Knight then turned it over and the real decisive moment #3 was provided by a man who up until then had been having one of his worst games of the season. Corey Webster shot 2/13 in game two. He had been 1/12.
You cannot overestimate how massive that was. He’d been having an awful time, and just quietly he hasn’t been at his best for a while now, but nothing was gonna stop him from putting up that ball. They say that about great shooters, they have a short memory. It’s not about whether or not the last one missed, only that the next one is going in. Webster makes this three and it’s a four-point game. The Wildcats now had to work away to score twice. With a stop in there somewhere.
Jermaine Beal semi-took care of the first step by making one of his two free throws to at least cut it to a three point deficit. Obviously their next best move would be to put the Breakers at the line. Thing is though, they still had a foul to give. So Abercrombie is fouled with 13 seconds left, 71-68. Breakers to inbound it… and Perth pulled one out of the bag. Catching Webster under pressure, he fumbled and regathered in the backcourt for a turnover. But Beal turned it over. Just lost the handle under pressure, a devastating error. Abercrombie went to the line to seal it… ahhh but the bugger missed them both! Nah, never mind, there’s Mika Vukona with the most important offensive rebound of the season. He was fouled but more importantly he took almost all of the 3.5 seconds that were left off the clock. He misses one FT, smiles anyway, then makes the second to end it. Aaaand breathe.
The stats lines don’t all make for pretty reading. Webster’s 10 points shooting 2/13 for example. Cedric topped with 13, also adding 9 rebounds and 8 assists. He was magnificent whenever he wasn’t shooting threes, there were also 2 steals in there. Abercrombie had 12p/5r, Pledger 11p/4r, Wesley 11 points and Catfish 7p/6r. Mika Vukona scored 7 and rebounded 8 with 3 assists.
The final of the grand final is on Sunday at a far more palatable time than the last Perth game. It’s all or nothing, everything on the line. This is why they play the game.
Key Stat
Play of the Game
WEBSTER, WEBSTER AND COHEN!
Bonus Prizes
Match MVP Points
Cedric Jackson – 3
Alex Pledger – 2
Mika Vukona – 1
Up Next
Sunday, 7.30pm: Perth Wildcats vs NZ Breakers, Perth Arena (NZT)