Perth coach Rob Beveridge believes the Wildcats can claim to be
arguably the most successful sporting organisation in the world after
making the NBL playoffs for a staggering 26th successive season.
The order of the top four was finalised on Friday, when
minor premier and defending champion New Zealand scored a 76-69 away win
over Townsville (15-13), which ensured the Crocs finished fourth and
would meet NZ again in the semi-finals.
Their best of three series starts in Auckland next Friday
and continues in Townsville on April 5, with a potential game three
decider pencilled in for Vector Arena two days later.
Second-placed Perth (19-9) will host Gold Coast in game one of their
series next Sunday, with the teams to meet on the Gold Coast three days
later, with a possible decider scheduled for April 7 at Challenge
Stadium.
None of the other three semi-finalists had even started up the last time Perth missed the playoffs in 1986.
"I'm not too huge on the facts, but apparently we may be
the most successful team in the entire world in sporting organisations
in making finals 26 years in a row," Beveridge told AAP.
He will have both Matt Knight and Cam Tovey back from injury for game one.
Beveridge said his team couldn't have asked for a better
preparation for the playoffs than the tough 72-71 away win at Melbourne
(11-17).
Keen to maintain Perth's reputation for defensive excellence, Beveridge wants to fine tune their offence.
"I just feel at times we get too bogged down offensively,
so we've got to have better ball movement better flow and play a lot
more freely," Beveridge said.
He is wary of Gold Coast, who beat the Wildcats 2-1 in their season head-to-head split, with the home team winning each game.
Townsville lost all three regular season games to the
Breakers and Crocs' coach Paul Woolpert concedes New Zealand may have a
psychological advantage.
"I think there could be, but I think we're pretty
confident that we'll come up with a game plan and hopefully execute it,"
Woolpert said.
He identified two areas his team needed to improve in
heading into the finals against a Breakers side he believes has no
weaknesses.
"We need to limit our turnovers and we need to rebound the basketball better than we have throughout the season," Woolpert said.
"They are a hell of a basketball team. We've got our work cut out for us, but we're looking forward to the challenge."
Adelaide (8-20) finished with the wooden spoon for the
second time in three seasons after losing 79-75 to Cairns (15-13) and
92-78 to Wollongong (9-19).
Wollongong won 77-68 the previous night at Sydney (11-17).
Gold Coast (17-11) completed a confidence boosting home 94-71 home win over New Zealand (21-7).
The Breakers were scorched by a Blaze team that shot at 63 per cent from three-point territory.
View Source
