Enigmatic Breakers hammer hapless Snakes in Cairns

The rollercoaster NBL season of the New Zealand Breakers has continued as they got back up on the upward slope with a dominant 111-82 thumping of the Cairns Taipans in Far North Queensland.

The game was able to proceed at Cairns Convention Centre despite Tropical Cyclone Jasper's appearance mid-week, and it was the Breakers who delivered a savage bounce back performance.

New Zealand have been the great enigma this season on the back of a grand final appearance, and they hit back from disappointing losses to South East Melbourne and Tasmania.

Former NBA forward Anthony Lamb guaranteed the Breakers would hit back following Saturday's home loss to Tasmania. He led the charge with nothing summing up their improvement than when he scored a put back basket on a missed free-throw in the second quarter.

It was a stunning offensive outburst from the Breakers as they raced to an 11-3 lead and never looked back. They would go on a 15-0 run during the opening period before finishing up with a season-best 36 points to lead by 18 already on 76 per cent shooting.

That continued in the second with another 26 points with the Breakers leading 62-36 at the half with the team shooting at 67 per cent and Lamb combining with Parker Jackson-Cartwright for 33 of those on a combined 11-of-15 shooting.

New Zealand completed the job to win by 29 to improve to 5-9 on the season and they shot 58 per cent for the game while going 25-of-34 at the foul line.

Lamb delivered 29 points and eight rebounds, Jackson-Cartwright 20 along with eight assists, and Finn Delany 11 points and seven rebounds.

Coach Mody Maor introduced Lithuanian Next Star Mantas Rubstavicius to the starting five with great effect too as he delivered a career-best 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

"We were due for a good game," Maor said.

"We've been feeling that we've been doing the right work, and good work, for a while now but it hasn’t shown in the win column.

"I'm happy the boys got a chance to experience this, they deserved it big time."

It was a rough night for Cairns who slip to 6-9 before Sunday's trip to Brisbane with Taran Armstrong top-scoring with 15 points while Patrick Miller and Sam Mennenga added 13 apiece.

However, 15 fewer free-throw attempts, being outrebounded by eight and conceding 17 points from their 13 turnovers spelled the demise of the Snakes.

Taipans coach Adam Forde quickly turned the page to Sunday.

"I found myself searching pretty early on with two early timeouts in the first quarter, and going deep into the rotation just trying to find someone to not play panicked," Forde said.

"We probably put the cue in the rack pretty early on knowing we have to back it up in two days against Brisbane."

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 11

CAIRNS TAIPANS 82 (Armstrong 15, Miller 13, Mennenga 13)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 111 (Lamb 29, Rubštavi?ius 21, Jackson-Cartwright 20)

BOX SCORE