THERE was almost a massive upset in Sunday’s National Basketball League (NBL) action, as one of the struggling sides of the competition got dangerously close to knocking off one of the championship favourites. The third match in the day’s triple-header saw the New Zealand Breakers head west to take on the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena on Sunday afternoon. It was shaping as a one-sided affair given the contrasting form of the two teams throughout the season, and Perth came in as the side expected to get the job done. While they did so, the Breakers gave them a bit of a run for their money, and it took a strong second half from the home side to get them to the 10-point win.

With the Wildcats destined for another tilt at the championship, they will be looking to build as much momentum as possible heading into the postseason. They would have entered this matchup with plenty of confidence, given the Breakers have looked a step behind the pace throughout the 2021/22 season and have struggled with inconsistency in some of their matches.

These predictions were thrown out the window in the first term, with the visiting team coming out and producing one of their best quarters of the season. While they only outscored the Wildcats by six points, it was the fact that they put up 34 of their own as their offence finally fired and got them out to a solid lead to start the match. The two sides could not be separated in the second term, scoring 15 points apiece in this time, setting up a big second half of play.

A different Wildcats side came out of the locker room after half time, with last year’s runners-up determined to not let the margin get any more out of hand. They kept the deficit to around five points, but the Breakers were not going to let their opponents walk all over them. This changed in the last few minutes of the term, when Perth’s starters got involved and completely erased New Zealand’s lead. When the buzzer sounded for three-quarter time, it was the Wildcats who had a five-point lead, and all of the momentum heading into the last.

It was more of the same from the Wildcats in the final term, pushing the tempo of the offence and getting the ball in the hands of their stars in Victor Law and Bryce Cotton. The lead blew out above 15 points in rapid fashion, as the offence of Perth got going in a big way. New Zealand was able to bring the margin back to six points in the final minute, but it was not enough as Perth pushed to a 10 point victory.

Once again, it was the dynamic duo of Law and Cotton that proved the biggest difference in the win, as the pair combined for a whopping 51 points. They are becoming one of the most damaging combos of all time from a statistical standpoint, and seem pretty hard to stop of late, and proved too much for the balanced scoring of the Breakers.

The reigning champs in Melbourne United flexed their muscles a bit as they produced a clinical performance in their win over the Adelaide 36ers at John Cain Arena on Sunday afternoon. After a tense first term, United got rolling and began to fire on all cylinders for the rest of the match. Their ball movement was unbelievable to watch in what was a fantastic team win.

A ripping first quarter of play set up the win for the Cairns Taipans over the Brisbane Bullets at Nissan Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Taipans stormed out of the gates, outscoring their opponents 32-12 in this time, and this margin proved too much for the Bullets, eventually falling to the tune of 10 points.