Basketball On The Internet.

KIRK Penney last night continued his recent NBL domination with 28 points, including five threes, against his former club New Zealand.

Illawarra's aptly renamed "Kirkish delight" made it three from three wins over the Breakers as the Hawks once more left New Zealand struggling with more questions than answers.

If the 36ers reverse their previous road loss to the Crocs in Townsville tomorrow and the Breakers drop at home again to Illawarra on Sunday, Adelaide and New Zealand potentially would be on identical 11-9 win-loss records - with a match against each other to come yet.

The Breakers are floundering but when the Hawks go off for 26-9 and 25-19 second and third quarters respectively - that's 51-28 over the middle of the game - the finale becomes somewhat academic.

And while many continue to (rightly) laud Illawarra's expansive offensive array, a 26-9 quarter speaks quite strongly to its unheralded defence as well.

At one point the Hawks led 62-33 and a lot of coaches and playing staff across the NBL were shifting uneasily in their lounge chairs watching it all unfold.

Some late heroics from Corey Webster took him to his league-leading season average but the Breakers have some heavy repairs to do before Sunday's rematch in Auckland.

Tonight: HOW hard is it to predict the outcome tonight in Melbourne where United hosts Cairns? Will United be a little over-confident now? Will the Taipans be shattered their post-season dream is pretty much just that, a dream, after having lost at home to Melbourne? Does Cairns rally, growing from the lessons it learnt on Wednesday? Or does it fold along the dotted lines, its resolve compromised? Can Melbourne be even better than it was on Wednesday? With home teams winning 69 per cent of the time, I'm staying with United. But Wednesday's game threw up more questions than it answered. Except one. Melbourne is back playing finals basketball.

LET'S not put too fine a point on it - Perth has been sucking of late. But Sydney? Down Julian Khazzouh now, it's a bit all over the place. Joe Connelly has been giving young guys a shot at establishing themselves which has meant the introduction of players such as Indiana Faithful who, to me, still sounds like a reference to a Hoosiers' home crowd. Perth's home crowd is worth points to Trevor Gleeson's spluttering team and it should return to the winning feeling.

YES, it's heritage round and still loving the old uniforms being trotted out, Crocs leader Mitch Norton, above, in a Townsville Suns replica, circa 1989 from the club's state league origins. They'll wear that against the 36ers, who will be in their early 1990s strip, at The Swamp tomorrow.

Last night: ILLAWARRA HAWKS 87 (Penney 28, Lisch 16, Martin 13, Forman 12; Ogilvy 11 rebs; Martin, Penney 3 assts) d NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 69 (Webster 23, Ce Jackson 14; Wesley, Vukona 8 rebs; Wesley 3 assts) at The Sandpit, WIN Entertainment Centre.