The Perth Wildcats ensured the NBL playoffs began as expected with a convincing 93-65 win over the Wollongong Hawks at the Perth Arena.
The Hawks never gave up all night and fought hard, but the Wildcats simply had too many weapons to end up cruising to a 28-point win and a 14th straight victory.
Remarkably the only loss in the new venue was to wooden spooners Adelaide back on the opening night on November 16 last year.
Considering that New Zealand and Perth had combined records of 46-10 for the season while Wollongong and Sydney had just 25-31, the semi-final series were hardly expected to be competitive and that's how the opening games turned out.
After New Zealand took care of Sydney 81-64 in Auckland to go up 1-0 in that series, Perth took control in the second quarter and were virtually never headed from there.
Perth now can wrap up the series with a win in Wollongong on Sunday or if the Hawks prevail, the decider will be back at the Perth Arena next Thursday.
