New Zealand Breakers end Perth curse to shake up NBL Finals picture

New Zealand are adamant their march towards an NBL Finals campaign remains on track after they defied an early injury to star import Anthony Lamb to break their Perth curse and shake up the post-season picture.

New Zealand stuttered in the second half but did enough to prevail 89-78 on Sunday, with runaway MVP favourite Bryce Cotton kept to just 13 points on three-of-14 shooting.

The visitors won every quarter, but it was a bitter-sweet feeling after forward Lamb suffered a suspected season-ending achilles injury in the first half.

Lamb played in the last NBA post-season with Golden State and was averaging more than 20 points per game in his first NBL stint.

“Very sad Anthony’s hurt, it doesn’t look so good,” Breakers coach Mody Maor said.

“(But) it shows that we’ve been there before. This is the first game all year I’ve had my full roster, and that was for a quarter.

“We know how to overcome and respond to this. The growing pains paid off.”

The victory was just the Breakers’ second in their past 13 games against the Wildcats and their first at RAC Arena in three years.

And it had major ramifications on the ladder ahead of the penultimate round.

Perth are yet to lock up a top-two spot and with it direct entry to the three-game Playoffs series that will decide who battles for the trophy.

The Breakers are now firmly in the frame for the Play-In Tournament, improving to 11-13 and one win behind the fifth- and sixth-placed Sydney and Brisbane (12-14), with two games in hand.

New Zealand will face the Bullets in their first game of the final round in a match that could decide who sneaks into the top six to earn a Play-In spot.

The Wildcats’ loss also keeps the Tasmania JackJumpers in the hunt for a top-two berth that would mean they avoid the Play-In Tournament at Perth’s expense, although the Wildcats would need to lose their three remaining games.

“There’s a lot of ups and downs in basketball, but I think we’re fine,” said Keanu Pinder, who powered the hosts with 21 points and 15 rebounds.

“We’re going to make a great finals push ... it’s a great time to get a reality check.”

Parker Jackson-Cartwright (19 points, five assists, four rebounds) did the early damage for the Breakers, who led by as many as 19 points.

Zylan Cheatham (24 points, eight rebounds) then carried on his work as a visibly irritated Cotton battled, taking seven shots before finally making a field goal in the third quarter.

Perth eventually surged, with a nine-point run late in the third quarter bringing the margin back to six.

It remained close to begin the final quarter, before two moments of strength from Mangok Mathiang swayed the contest again.

First, the Breakers forward grabbed a tough rebound from a missed Perth free-throw, shook both Pinder and Jesse Wagstaff to the floor, and took the ball up to assist an Izayah Le’afa triple.

He then drove to the basket for a left-handed lay-up and the lead was back to eight points with two minutes to play.

HOW THE NBL FINALS WORK

* Top two finishers progress to a three-game Playoffs series, the winner of that to play in a five-game Championship Series for the title.

* Third- and fourth-placed finishers play a one-off Seeding Qualifier as part of the Play-In Tournament.

* The winners of the Seeding Qualifier progress to the Playoffs and the losers play the winners of the fifth- and sixth-placed sides, who contest a sudden-death Play-In Qualifier.