Marc Hinton - Stuff

The dream is alive. Just one hurdle now stands between the New Zealand Breakers and their shot at sporting history.

The Breakers will play in their first ever Australian NBL grand final after a magnificent 99-83 victory over the Perth Wildcats in tonight's semi-final decider in Auckland.

And with that they now stand just one three-game series away from becoming the first New Zealand team to win a title in an Australian league. They will meet the winner of Sunday's Townsville-Cairns series decider, with game one scheduled for Wednesday April 20 with a 6.30 pm tipoff.

It was former league MVP and Melbourne Tigers motormouth Corey Williams who labelled the Breakers "chokers" ahead of this matchup. But after surviving a 23-point defeat in the opening game on their home floor, coming up clutch in Perth and then closing out the series in brilliant fashion it's the tweeting point guard who should be spluttering on his own words.

The Breakers were anything but chokers. They kept their cool, found their intensity on the road and in the end showed they were the class acts of this series as they won the decider with ease. The way the Wildcats lost the plot in the final quarter as the match slipped away from them, committing some fairly dubious fouls, did the now former champions little credit.

In front of a sell-out crowd of just under 4200, the Breakers handled the occasion splendidly. They started a little slowly, but once they found their rhythm in the second quarter there was only ever going to be one winner of this contest. They led by two at the half, by nine at the three-quarter mark and cruised home as the Wildcats challenge unravelled in the home stretch.

Big American Gary Wilkinson, playing through a bronchial infection, was clutch. He made five-of-eight field goals and went nine-of-11 from the line as he notched a game-high 20 points to go with seven rebounds.

The nerveless Kirk Penney was also special. Despite all the attention in the world, he still found room to make five of his eight three-point attempts as he finished with 18 points, six rebounds and three steals.

But it was CJ Bruton who was the difference-maker tonight. The little Aussie - the Breakers' only import from across the ditch - shook off a sub-par first two games to go for 17 points (4/11 FG, 6/6 FT) and six assists. His shots always seemed to drop at just the right time.

Tom Abercrombie added a sweet 10 points, while Mika Vukona's nine points and seven rebounds on that gammy knee were further testimony to the forward's sheer will and determination. Alex Pledger's eight-point cameo off the bench (six coming in a decisive third-quarter run) was crucial too, while Kevin Braswell, Dillon Boucher and Paul Henare all played their roles splendidly.

An intense match boiled over early in the final quarter when Wildcats import Andre Brown was sent off when a skirmish broke out following a foul on Wilkinson near halfway. The big American threw a punch which not only saw him exit early, but allowed Wilkinson to slot three free-throws to extend a seven-point lead to 10. The Cats never got within cooee after that.

The Breakers didn't exactly come bounding out of the blocks, trailing 2-8 early on and by as many as eight just past the midway mark of the quarter. But a strong finish, capped by a huge, chest-thumping Wilkinson three-point play at the buzzer, saw the hosts trail by just two (23-25) at the first break.

Then the Breakers went up a gear, keyed as always by their defence. They went on an 8-0 run to start the second quarter, and stretched that to 18-6 as the lead hit double-figures. Momentum had well and truly shifted sides, and the huge crowd was loving it.

The big plays kept coming for the home side as the quarter closed out. Braswell hit a monster triple about two metres beyond the arc, Abercrombie soared into the stratosphere to block a Damian Martin layup attempt and Bruton continued to make heady decisions.

The only negatives of the opening half for the Breakers were the usual culprits: too many turnovers (11) and too many offensive boards for their opponents (nine). But the home team shot better (55 percent from the floor, against 39), knocked down four more trifectas and earned six more trips to the charity stripe..

Things looked a little ominous in the third when the Cats clawed into the lead a little, but another outstanding finish by the Breakers - a Wilkinson three nearly lifted the roof off, likewise an Abercromble alley-oop - saw them ease back out to a decisive 11 (72-61).

And from there the party began. It was celebration time at the NSEC.

New Zealand Breakers 99 (Gary Wilkinson 20, Kirk Penney 18, CJ Bruton 17, Thomas Abercrombie 10).

Perth Wildcats 83 (Matthew Knight 17, Jesse Wagstaff 12, Cameron Tovey 11, Stephen Weigh 10)

1Q: 23-25; HT: 52-43; 3Q: 72-61.

- Fairfax Media