Old habits die hard.

Four games into the NBL season, it looked as though the days of blowout losses for the New Zealand Breakers would be a thing of the past. After a tight loss in their opening round, they had gone on a three-game winning streak, in impressive fashion.

But against the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Waitākere on Thursday night, it was a tale all too familiar with the side in recent seasons.

The Breakers fell to a 99-77 loss to the Phoenix, allowing the visitors to score 38 points in the first quarter to blow the game open early.

With coach Mody Maor having often commented on wanting defence to be a strength for his side after it was frail a season ago, and that being the case early this season, it was a surprise to see their defensive structure collapse early and often.

But that was the scene. After holding the Phoenix to just 77 points when the sides met in Melbourne last week, the visitors came out looking like they might match that by the half. The early input from former NBA big men Alan Williams (eight points in the opening four minutes) and Zhou Qi (his first eight points were all uncontested dunks) were examples of how easy it was at times for the visitors to score.

A poor defensive opening might have been survivable if the Breakers offence was filling up the bucket at the other end of the floor, but with the Phoenix wise to their aptitude on the pick-and-roll and blowing it up constantly, the Breakers were forced to settle for jump shots – mid-range or further with little success.

When they were able to work the ball inside, it often resulted in a good look and points. That showed in the final box score with Dererk Pardon and Jarrell Brantley leading the scoring, shooting at 87 and 60 per cent.

But as was the case last season, when the Breakers fell behind, they became reliant on their ability to shoot the three – which was almost non-existent in the first half as they went just 2-13 from beyond the arc and trailed by as many as 21 late in the second quarter.

While they were able to slow the Phoenix offence down in the second half, their own offence continued to struggle to find a way through the visitors' defence; it took Izayah Le'Afa - their third highest scorer on the night – until three minutes had passed in the third quarter to make a field goal.

Ultimately, a glimpse at the team's field goal success rates told the story; the Phoenix successful on 63 per cent of their attempts, while the Breakers struggled to a season-low 38 per cent.

The Breakers will now head back on the road as they look to get back to winning ways, taking on the Cairns Taipans on Sunday afternoon.

NZ Breakers 77 (Jarrell Brantley 17 points, Dererk Pardon 16, Izayah Le'Afa 10)

South East Melbourne Phoenix 99 (Kyle Adnam 17, Alan Williams 16, Mitch Creek 15)

1Q: 25-38. HT: 41-58. 3Q: 56-81