In front of an opening-night crowd of 5600, the Breakers stunned the Melbourne United outfit they have been going ga-ga over across the ditch with a 76-71 victory, continuing the club's outstanding first-up record at their downtown Auckland stronghold.

Both teams will get a lot better than this, but it was the Breakers who played the better as a team, and rode home on a 15-0 final-quarter run, keyed by eight straight points from a hitherto off-key Corey Webster, who had a mixed game in his new role off the bench.