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In a clash of familiar foes, the Perth Wildcats play host to the New Zealand Breakers in game 1 of the NBL Grand Final Series. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 9:30pm (AEDT).
Despite Perth being one of the most feared teams at home, New Zealand will have history on their side coming into this one. These two sides have played out a grand final series on two occasions, with the Breakers coming out victorious both times, including a win at Perth Arena in the 2012-13 series.
If you want to talk about clutch, look no further than the team wearing black. They’ve been to the grand final four times, coming away with four championships, all in the last five years. They’ve managed to keep together the nucleus which has netted them most of these titles, with five players on their team having won three or more titles.
Perth are no strangers to finals basketball either however, in fact they broke a world record this year for most consecutive finals appearances by a professional sporting team. Along this journey, they’ve managed to win two of the last six NBL Championships.
Similar to the Breakers, the key to Perth’s constant finals success has been keeping their roster together. Seven players on their roster have tasted the glory of lifting the trophy.
Recent encounters between Perth and New Zealand have been closely fought matches with the season split at two games a piece. Their last meeting was an exception however, with Perth shooting at just 37 per cent from the field on their way to a 21 point drubbing.
After being embarrassed by the Hawks in Illawarra, Perth responded in Game 3 of the semi-finals to dismantle their opposition in what was a fiery and at times brutal match. Perth is never afraid to get physical, especially in their own house where they get a fair run with the officials.
New Zealand on the other hand only required two games to defeat Melbourne, who simply lacked big match experience as the Breakers dominated on the boards to win comprehensively in both games.
A key battle will take place with the bigs on both sides. Nate Jawai is arguably the strongest player in the competition, but lacks a lot of lateral movement. Charles Jackson has to take advantage of this, by both posting him up, and keeping himself out of foul trouble which has plagued him during his NBL stint.
Containing the offensive output of both Jermaine Beal and Casey Prather will be high on the priority list of the visitors. While Prather has been electrifying against the Hawks, he has consistently found himself in foul trouble early on. Beal has the potential to match it with anyone in the league, but he can also come up cold as ice, depending on how much pressure the Breakers can apply to him.
For Perth to win, they have to lock down the paint and not give New Zealand an inch on the interior. The Breakers were able to dominate so easily against United due to the sheer amount of offensive rebounds they gathered. Perth has the weapons in Jawai, Knight and Jervis to combat this, but they will have to be on their game and not give their opponents easy second chance points.
While the Breakers come into this after a week and a half on the sidelines, you feel that this benefits Perth more. The Wildcats will come into this game off with five days between games, which should give them the slight edge in match fitness, especially with home court advantage.
Prediction
This should be an outstanding match, and it wouldn’t shock if it came down to the last shot to decide the winner. I expect New Zealand to be right in this contest, but lean to Perth with the advantage of playing in front of a massive home crowd.
Perth by 4
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 9:30pm (AEDT).
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