Breakers Face Arch Rival Wildcats Twice in First Week of NBL21

The Sky Sport Breakers will play their arch rivals the Perth Wildcats twice in the opening week of NBL21.

Between them, the two clubs have won nine of the last 10 NBL championships.

A revised schedule for the first two rounds of the season has been released. The opening two rounds of games are as follows:

ROUND 1:

Sunday, January 17
Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers v Perth Wildcats – RAC Arena, Perth (7pm NZTime)

ROUND 2:

Wednesday, January 20
Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers v Adelaide 36ers – Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide (9.30pm NZTime)

Sunday, January 24
Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers v Perth Wildcats – RAC Arena, Perth (7pm NZTime)

All games will be broadcast live on Sky Sport.

The Breakers are currently based in Hobart having relocated from Melbourne due to the COVID-19 scare.

Aside from Corey Webster who has a hand injury, Head Coach Dan Shamir will have a full roster to take to Perth, including two-time NBL All-Star Lamar Patterson who joined the team this week.

“We are excited about Lamar’s arrival and to finally have our whole team together and are looking forward to the start of the NBL season,” said Breakers owner Matt Walsh.

NBL Commissioner Jeremy Loeliger said: “We always knew we would have to respond to the challenges of COVID-19 and the travel restrictions that would be imposed by our various State Governments from time to time. This is why we proceeded on the basis of a rolling schedule, which will hopefully minimise the inconvenience for our teams and our fans.

“The changes we have made to the schedule ensure the season can get underway in a timely manner and that we can still play enough games prior to the beginning of the NBL Melbourne Hub and be confident of still being able to complete the season in June.

“We will wait and see how things progress around the country over the coming weeks before we finalise the schedule for the following three rounds leading into the NBL Cup in the Melbourne NBL Hub.

“These changes will give of our Australian based clubs the best opportunity to each play 14 home games across the season and be part of the NBL Cup in Melbourne starting on February 20, the biggest event we have ever staged with all nine teams playing 36 games across four weeks.

“We are also very hopeful of the New Zealand Breakers being able to play some home games in front of their fans in New Zealand later in the season.

“The New Zealand Breakers and South East Melbourne Phoenix are currently based in Hobart, the Sydney Kings and the Hawks are in Albury and Melbourne United is in Cairns. This ensures they can train and travel relatively freely and minimise any risk of further disruptions to the season schedule.

“We will continue to work closely with the clubs and be guided by the advice of the relevant health authorities and the safety of our players, staff, officials and the fans will be our number one priority.”