IN THE National Basketball League on Thursday night, the SEM Phoenix made the trip to Auckland to play the New Zealand Breakers, who are looking to secure a late-season finals spot, with the visitors getting the job done in emphatic fashion.

Although the Breakers came into the game hard-headed and had a strong start, things started to slow down in the late first half, and by the start of the the third quarter, their consistent play came to a halt, and they were never able to regain form, eventually losing 114-83. A poor 31-point performance in the second half – compared to the Phoenix’s 62 – was their downfall, as sloppy play both offensively and defensively was almost always punished.

The Phoenix came in with a secured position for finals, having established themselves as of the best teams in the league all season long and just coming off a 97-77 win against first-placed Adelaide 36ers. The Breakers were coming off a tragic 91-89 loss to the Tasmania JackJumpers after a masterclass of a performance from David Johnson, scoring 33 points with seven triples.

Izaiah Brockington started hot, getting to the rim consistently and scoring at an efficient rate, but this stopped in the second half when the Phoenix started to get into a rhythm, slowing the import down, and eventually he went quiet for the majority of the second half, finishing with 19.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright, while being such a crucial part of the squad and the main man offensively, was ejected, finishing with 15 points and five assists. Tai Webster came off the bench and provided a scoring spark, being aggressive offensively in every aspect. Webster finished with 16 points on 63 per cent efficiency, also grabbing eight rebounds.

Ian Clark led the way for the Phoenix, once again being an incredible piece off the bench, scoring 23 points, as Nathan Sobey, who sits in third place spot on the NBL MVP Race leaderboard, found it difficult to get into a consistent rhythm in the first half. He started off the game 0/8 until he was able to get his shot going. He finished with 21 points, on 38 per cent efficiency. Jordan Hunter put up a strong double-double statline with a solid 10-point, 10-rebound performance.

The SEM Phoenix have continued to assert themselves as a true powerhouse this season, and have shown that they can be the superior team and are capable of beating everyone and anyone, proving just that in their last game, winning by twenty points against Bryce Cotton and the Adelaide 36ers.

As finals get closer and closer, that sixth-place spot seems to get further and further away by each game for the Breakers. With a tough last four games, including two games against Sixers, alarm bells are now ringing for New Zealand, and this game might have just been the nail in the coffin.