What was all the angst about? After a pulsating, dramatic and eerily familiar semi-final series against the Townsville Crocs, the New Zealand Breakers have earned their crack at back-to-back.

The Australian NBL's best-of-three grand final series will open next Thursday night back here at Vector Arena in downtown Auckland, against the winner of last night's decider between the Perth Wildcats and Gold Coast Blaze out in the wild west.

The Breakers are there - for the second straight year - because they dug deep and executed brilliantly down the stretch to prevail 97-80 and shake loose a fabulous Crocs challenge that, truth be told, continued unabated throughout this series.

Tonight's decider, with both teams having won on each other's court, was a battle of attrition and fortitude, as much as basketball skill.

They'd gone to-to-toe Thursday night in Townsville, spent most of Friday on planes and then came out and produced a doozey last night in front of 7500 exuberant Aucklanders.

It was just unfortunate that it ended on a sour note with Crocs star Peter Crawford spoiling his game-high 24 points with a reckless and dangerous late unsportsmanlike foul on Thomas Abercrombie that injured the Breakers star.

He had to be assisted off the court with what looked like a sprained ankle, with the foul coming when the game had been long decided.

The defending champions from New Zealand were just too good down the stretch for the Queenslanders, easing out from a 44-42 halftime advantage to lead by 11 (73-62) at the end of the third and by as many as 17 in the final quarter.

It was - keeping to the script of last year - an emphatic performance from the Breakers in a deciding game back on their home court.

In fact, this series played out exactly as the 2011 classic against the Wildcats had, right down to the injury drama around point guard Cedric Jackson who continued to play through his sprained ankle.

The champs were led by another turn-back-the-clock display from CJ Bruton who tallied 20 points on seven-of-15 shooting, including four-of-nine from deep.

Abercrombie added a valuable 19 points (4/7 FG, 8/9 FT) and Daryl Corletto also chipped in with 19 points (7/14 FG) on a series of darts to the basket.

Gary Wilkinson added 10 points and six boards, Leon Henry made another telling contribution off the bench with two big triples and Jackson sucked up his pain and contributed six points, five rebounds and three assists while playing well within himself.

Dillon Boucher was also at least twice as good as his stats (four points, four rebounds, six assists, a steal and a block) with a bunch of heady hustle plays that no one writes down but everyone knows are difference-makers.

Crawford made his usual array of big shots and Luke Schenscher bothered the Breakers early inside. But these two were defended a lot better over the second half of the contest.

It's not clear yet how serious Abercrombie's injury is, but given the magical healing hands of Breakers physio Anousith Bouaaphone, it would be a major surprise if he didn't present fit for the grand final.

The Breakers had led 44-42 at halftime, thanks mainly to a dozen first-half points from Corletto, an efficient 11 from Abercrombie and a timely eight from Bruton.

They'd looked a little lethargic early but an 8-0 run late in the opening quarter got them going.

But they had been unable to shake loose a persistent Crocs side who stayed close mainly via the prowess of Crawford (16 points) from long range and Schenscher (13 points and six boards) from in close.

 NZ Breakers 97 (CJ Bruton 20, Daryl Corletto 19, Thomas Abercrombie 19, Gary Wilkinson 10), Townsville Crocodiles 80 (Peter Crawford 24, Luke Schenscher 19, Todd Blanchfield 12). 1Q 21-20; HT: 44-42; 3Q 73-62.

- © Fairfax NZ News