BNZ Breakers Blitz Adelaide in Gold Coast Warm-up

The BNZ Breakers are sending an early message that they are going to be up and firing to start NBL24 on the back of the heartbreak of going so close to a championship last season.

The Breakers might have come into the game minus Will McDowell-White and Next Star Mantas Rubstavicius, but they were tremendous and it was new import pair Jackson-Cartwright and Cheatham who were especially exciting.

It was in the second quarter when New Zealand blew the game wide open piling on 39 points to go into the half-time break leading Adelaide 56-36.

With Isaac Humphries providing a strong presence down low, Adelaide battled in the third quarter to make it a contest but the Breakers had come out to send a message and that started on the defensive end.

The way the Breakers pressured Adelaide Next Star Trentyn Flowers and hounded him into seven turnovers attempting to bring the ball up the floor was instrumental in building up a lead as big as 26 throughout the game.

New Zealand would end up scoring 29 points off the 24 turnovers from the Sixers, and then the Breakers were able to put 101 points on the board as well for a strong all-round showing in the 26-point triumph.

While the new signings at the Breakers were outstanding, it was 319-game veteran Cam Gliddon who top-scored with 19 points on the back of nailing all six of his field goals and five three-point attempts.

Then there was new point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright who might have been giving up size, but his game at both ends did the talking. He led the pressure defence and ended up with 17 points, eight assists, four steals and three rebounds.

Then down low, the signs from Zylan Cheatham were more than encouraging with 13 points, nine rebounds, three assists and a block along with a monster finish over Nick Marshall coming down the lane in the fourth quarter.

Mangok Mathiang is another new signing for New Zealand to show good signs with 12 points and three rebounds with Dan Fotu adding 12 points, and soon-to-be 400-game captain Tom Abercrombie nine points.

Without doubt the highlight of the game for the 36ers was how good Isaac Humphries looked both in terms of physically and his touch. He ended up with 22 points, seven rebounds and two assists on 9/13 shooting in 23 and-a-half minutes to start his second stint in Adelaide in style.

Jason Cadee is another returnee to the Sixers and had 11 points, three assists and two steals on the back of his MVP season in the NBL1 North at the Gold Coast Rollers. Jamaal Franklin added eight points, three assists and three boards, and Kyrin Galloway eight points, three rebounds and two assists.

It was a rough initiation to the NBL Blitz for 36ers Next Star Trentyn Flowers who was trusted to run the point. He ended up with eight points and seven turnovers in 22 minutes. 

Both teams are back in action on the Gold Coast at the NBL Blitz on Tuesday with the Breakers first up against the Tasmania JackJumpers before the Sixers take on the Perth Wildcats.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL BLITZ

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 101 (Gliddon 19, Jackson-Cartwright 17, Cheatham 13)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 75 (Humphries 22, Cadee 11, Flowers 8, Galloway 8, Franklin 8) 

BOX SCORE