Breakers face tough Finals path after Adelaide loss

The Adelaide 36ers continued their strong finish to the NBL season under Scott Ninnis with a 76-70 win to consign the New Zealand Breakers to sixth position and to face the Sydney Kings on the road in a Play-In Qualifier.

The Breakers had locked in a Finals spot by beating the Brisbane Bullets at home on Friday and now it was all going to be whether they finished fourth, fifth or sixth as they took on the Sixers at a sold out Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

It was the very last game of the NBL regular season with Illawarra and Sydney watching on eagerly hoping for an Adelaide win, and the Sixers delivered despite being without import point guard Trey Kell III.

However, the Breakers were right up against it not only having the short turnaround from Friday night at home, but they also lost experienced forward Finn Delany to a back injury in the warm-up.

Then to make matters worse, star guard Will McDowell-White dislocated a shoulder for the second time this season. It not only ended his afternoon, but could very well have ended any hope of him playing in the Finals for a Breakers team already having lost imports Anthony Lamb and Justinian Jessup for the season.

"A lot of the stuff that is controllable for us we did really well," Breakers coach Mody Maor said.

"We never gave up, kept competing, kept playing the right way and stayed in the game.

"We were one dunk that somehow doesn't get free throws and rolls out of the rim away from completing a very nice comeback.

"So I'll take a lot of the good stuff that this group has showed me during this season and this is what we're going to take into the post-season."

In the absence of Kell, DJ Vasiljevic put in a tremendous display for the Sixers having already committed to the club for the next three seasons.

He posted a double-double made up of 25 points, 14 rebounds and four assists but he received plenty of help for a 36ers team who finishes the season at 12-16. However, it's been an impressive eight wins from 15 games since Ninns replaced CJ Bruton as coach.

"This is not where we want to be," Ninnis said.

"We want to be playing in finals and we gave ourselves a glimmer of hope there for a while and it wasn't to be.

"It's mixed emotions right now. It's a bit empty but I'm so proud of this playing group with the way that they stuck together when things were going pretty pear-shaped there for a while."

The major differences ended up being Adelaide collecting 20 offensive rebounds for 18 second chance points along with going to the line for 25 free-throws to just 10 for the Breakers.

Isaac Humphries continued his strong finish to the season for the Sixers with 15 points and six rebounds with Nick Marshall adding eight points and four assists, Kyrin Galloway eight points and three rebounds, and Sunday Dech seven points and three boards.

The Breakers showed signs of fatigue once again on the wrong end of playing a second game for the round in less than 48 hours up against a fresh opponent waiting for them playing their only game of the weekend.

They kept on fighting, though, and when retiring captain Tom Abercrombie missed a dunk which appeared to go with plenty of contact, the fightback from the Breakers stalled despite them turning up the pressure on the Sixers.

To top it off, when inspirational point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright (24 points, two assists) also fouled out late, any hope of New Zealand snatching it went with him.

That means the Breakers missed the chance firstly to lock in fourth position and what would have been a double chance in the Play-In Tournament.

They then also missed the chance to host the Sydney Kings by finish fifth and instead play the reigning champs in a Championship Series rematch next Wednesday night in a do-or-die match up.

It was tough going for the Breakers especially after McDowell-White went off after he had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Next Star Mantas Rubstavicius ended up with eight points and seven rebounds before he also fouled out while Zylan Cheatham had eight points, 13 rebounds and four assists.

HUNGRY JACKS NBL ROUND 20

ADELAIDE 36ERS 76 (Vasiljevic 25, Humphries 15, Galloway 8, Marshall 8) 

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 70 (Jackson-Cartwright 24, McDowell-White 14, Rubstavicius 8, Cheatham 8) 

BOX SCORE