New Zealand Breakers beat Sydney Kings lose in first NBL semi-final Darnell Lazare of the Kings is blocked by Cedric Jackson of the Breakers during game one of the NBL Semi Final series between the New Zealand Breakers and the Sydney Kings at Vector Arena. THE New Zealand Breakers were a notch below their best but still carried too many guns as they beat the Sydney Kings 81-64 on Thursday in their first NBL semi-final. In front of a subdued crowd of 8400 at Vector Arena, the Breakers were rarely out of second gear, bar livewire guard Cedric Jackson and an inspired Alex Pledger in defence. But they were never headed, their defence proving tight and their attack doing enough to win the opener in the best-of-three semi-final series. Mika Vukona and Jackson had the Breakers off to a fast start, with Alex Pledger hauling in three rebounds and a block but some good work from Kings' bench forward Tom Garlepp kept his team just 21-16 down at the break. The Kings couldn't get their attack going in the second half, scoring just 13 points as they shot at a poor 35 per cent, and they were lucky not to be down by any more than 42-31 as the Breakers shot just 41 per cent themselves in the first half. The Breakers lifted their game after halftime. Two three-pointers from Tom Abercrombie helped them to a 15-6 run and they led 59-45 at three-quarter time, and cruised through the final quarter to secure the victory. Abercrombie top-scored for the Breakers with 15, all of which were in the second half. Jackson scored 11 points and took nine rebounds, while Pledger scored eight points, took nine rebounds and made three blocks. Ben Madgen top-scored for the Kings with 15, while Darnell Lazare led the Kings' rebounders with six. The teams meet for the second semi-final in Sydney on Monday.