by Nick Gibson

The basketball right now is about as juicy as it could be! The New Zealand Breakers miraculously saved a break point by getting Perth in their best of three series.

Kirk Penney’s heroics were amazing in Game 2 to register 38 points and pretty much carried his team home. What a great series! Well done to coach Lemanis and especially Kirk Penney.

It’s interesting that Penney trialled with San Antonio six months ago and couldn’t get a gig.  If I were Boomers coach Brett Brown (and San Antonio asst) I would take him in a heart beat. He is almost too good for our league and deserves to be on the world stage!

San Antonio just finished the season with the best record in the West however, so it’s not like they don’t know what they are doing. More on the NBA next week as the playoffs loom...

 New Zealand now wait for the winner of Cairns and Townsville which is played live on Sunday at 2pm (ONE HD) and that will be a beauty!

The FNQ foes will leave no stone unturned to get to a maiden Grand Final appearance so expect a bit of passion and blood!

I’m gonna tip Cairns to win it by 2 – they have been the better side so far in the series and are due to win in Townsville.

The Taipans have two quality imports this season and are defensively focussed to win this thing. My jury has always been a bit out with coach Fearne but I must admit he’s doing a great job and his philosophies work.

Good luck to coaches Fearne and Gleeson on Sunday and please give us a nail biter!

This week's winners:

Wayne Bennett - chose a mining magnate over a movie star to become Australia’s highest paid coach!
Andrey Lemanis (NZ Breakers coach) - Out of jail baby!!
Kirk Penney - As heterosexual as I am, I think I love this guy!
Taipans - Against the odds they keep rolling...
Collingwood and Essendon - A class above so far.
Shane Watson - It may have only been Bangladesh but 185 off 96 balls is pretty good going!

Losers:

Vossy - loyalty is everything and you are now paying the price.
Port Adelaide - WTF??
Campbell Brown - Just made the Suns even easier to beat! 
Perth Wildcats - I bet they are not feeling my passion for Kirk Penney!