- Stuff

Too big, too strong and too damn good.

It was first blood to the princely Perth Wildcats at the NSEC tonight, and yes that's a long, dark cloud that now hovers over the NZ Breakers.

After their 22-6 regular season, the minor premiers from the North Shore have dumped their Australian NBL semifinals opener 101-78 against a more aggressive, intelligent and purposeful Wildcats side led superbly by playoff kingpin Kevin Lisch.

At 1-0 down and game two (of a potential three) 5345km away in the cosy confines of Perth's Challenge Stadium on Sunday, it's a long, long way back for the brittle Breakers.

Lisch poured in a game-high 29 points, blitzing the soft Breakers defence with five three-pointers as he made nine of his 15 field-goal attempts in another finals masterpiece.

But it was the Cats' trademark defensive pressure and their relentless rebounding that contributed to this well-deserved victory, as much as Lisch's offensive masterclass.. The defending champs crushed the Breakers 47-26 on the boards, harried them into a ridiculous 17 turnovers and pounded them 44-24 in points in the paint.

So, all that criticism and all those doubts about these Breakers really were danger signals. This Kiwi team may have won an unprecedented number of games this season, but their defence is marshmallow soft, their rebounding inadequate against a side of the Cats' purpose and when those shots ain't dropping from deep, well they just don't have a plan B.

The Breakers lost Mika Vukona to an ankle injury in the opening quarter and never recovered from the absence of their most dynamic front-court player.

They were well in the contest at the major break but they never recovered from a 24-10 third quarter from the visitors and just couldn't make enough shots down the stretch to get back in the contest.

Tom Abercrombie led the Breakers scoring with 17 points (6/15 FG) and Gary Wilkinson added 16 (6/12 FG). Kirk Penney was the best of the rest with 14 points but frankly the star shooting guard was a major disappointment as he went three-of-nine from the field in a lacklustre display.

Others simply didn't front (Kevin Braswell and CJ Bruton were major no-shows) and the home rebounding, sans Vukona, was nothing short of pathetic. They have just three days to transform themselves.

"There's not that much we need to adjust to," said a calm Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis afterwards. "We just need to go make a couple of shots.

"We play how we play, we've played that way all year, we're a good shooting basketball team and that will come round.

"We just didn't put the ball in the basket. That's something we do well and I'm pretty confident we'll do it well on Sunday."

Breakers skipper Paul Henare said the team felt they were still very much alive in this series, and that was the gist of their post-game discussions.

It's a series and from here on in we play for the championship. We also spoke about the need even more for us to stay together as a unit because we know what's coming in terms of outside the team environment.

"It's going to be tough but we back ourselves on the road as well. We're the best road team in the league, and we just have to bring it on Sunday."

A captivating first half, in front of nearly 4000 voluble home fans, ended with the scores locked at 52-52. The Breakers, who jumped out to a 31-23 first-quarter lead, outshot the visitors (56 percent from the floor, against 47) and from deep (38 to just 13), but found themselves behind the eight-ball in the effort areas..

Perth outrebounded their hosts 20-12, won the points in the paint 24-14 and second-chance points 8-2, and it was that dominance that enabled them to work back from an eight-point deficit, and to eventually take a firm grip on this series.

Lisch got hot in the third (13 points as he went five-of-seven for the quarter with three big threes), and the Breakers turned ice-cold (3/15FG), as the Cats skulked out to a decisive 14-point lead (76-62) by the period's end.

From there the champs closed like cold-blooded assassins.

"In the second half our defence was simply outstanding," noted Cats coach Rob Beveridge. "We took them out of their stuff. I'm very proud of the way we applied ourselves, particularly in the second half."

Beveridge said he expects the Breakers to come out a different team in game two. Even without their inspirational forward who will be sorely missed. The table-topping Kiwis simply have no choice. You suspect the Cats will be ready.

ANBL semifinals, Game 1 in Auckland:

NZ Breakers 78 (Tom Abercrombie 17, Gary Wilkinson 16, Kirk Penney 14), Perth Wildcats 101 (Kevin Lisch 29, Matt Knight 14, Stephen Weigh 12, Andre Brown 12, Cameron Tovey 11). 1Q: 31-23; HT: 52-52; 3Q: 76-62.