A second straight impressive offensive outing from Tai Wesley ensured the Breakers avoided a holiday hangover in Adelaide today.
Wesley led the Breakers with 18 points as the Kiwi club shook off an eight-day break to earn a tough road win over the 36ers.
A week after scoring 23 to help see off Sydney and earn player of the week honours, Wesley repeated his performance to help his side improve their league-leading record to 14-5.
Wesley was again especially efficient, making eight-of-11 from the floor to back up his 11-13 output against the Kings, and his 24 minutes were the most of the Breakers' bigs in a sign of his increasing influence.
"Tai's been a very talented player for us and he's stepped up at different times," said assistant coach Paul Henare. "He's obviously hit a little bit of form and got some confidence at the moment.
"Every week we have different guys stepping up - it just so happens that Tai's had a couple of good ones these last couple of weeks but that can change."
Another man who so often steps up got the Breakers off to an ideal start in Adelaide, with Cedric Jackson scoring eight points in the first four minutes as the Breakers embarked on a 12-0 run. The American guard had 12 points and three assists at the first break, with the Breakers' accuracy from the floor and speed in transition helping them to a six-point lead.
Former Breaker BJ Anthony quickly pulled Adelaide within one after a flurry of 10 points and, as well as the Breakers played in the first half, they would have been disappointed to be ahead by only a possession heading at the half. The onus was firmly on tightening up the defence and, after Adelaide stole in front to start the third, the Breakers achieved that goal to take control heading to the fourth.
"It was a great second-half defensive effort," Henare said. "We held them to 30 points, their field-goal percentage really dropped and, one of the most important things against Adelaide, we kept them off the free-throw line.
"We did a much better job of making those adjustments and I think the boys should be proud of themselves getting that sort of execution."
Their execution saw Adelaide held to two points in the opening five minutes of the fourth, allowing the Breakers a level of comfort down the stretch. And while that comfort could have increased had the visitors made more than 15 of their 32 free throws, Henare said it was mission accomplished ahead of Thursday's home game against Wollongong.
"If we shot a little bit better from the free-throw line and took care of the ball a couple more times, it's a pretty easy win. We made it a little bit hard on ourselves, but when you're on the road and coming up against a good team you really don't give a s***. You just take the win and get out of there."
36ers 74 (Wilson 21, Motum 19, Anthony 11) Breakers 81 (Wesley 18, Jackson 16, Webster 12) HT: 44-47
