Shawn Long and Tai Wesley have been the league’s toughest inside duo to handle in recent weeks and Long gave Ogilvy, Andersen and Conklin a bath in their first meeting.

They turned the tables on Friday. Andersen did a typical veteran job on Long, drawing two fouls from the big man while Wesley also found himself in foul trouble.

They ultimately out-scored the Breakers 70-32 in the paint at 68.6 per cent. They did a similar job against Sydney, Beveridge devising a plan to draw Andrew Bogut away from the rim and out-scoring them 50-30 in the paint. 

“The emphasis was Wesley and Long in the 4-5,” Beveridge said. 

“The last few weeks New Zealand have played exceptional basketball, particularly Wesley and Long.

“They’ve been the best big combination in the league and they’re the backbone of that team. I thought we did a hell of job in the way were trapping the post and rotating.

“It did allow someone like [Jarrad] Weeks to go off. They made a lot of threes, I think they were nine of 16 in that first half. 

“It’s something I’ve got to wear rather than getting our arses kicked on the inside like what happened in New Zealand.