Basketball: Breakers hoping to rebound from loss

Mika Vukona wants the Breakers to win the battle of the boards. Photo / GETTY IMAGES

Whether the Breakers have recovered after being "smacked in the face" will quickly become evident while watching this afternoon's battle of the boards.

The defending champions know they neglected one of their most essential duties during the season-opening humbling in Adelaide, and they're equally aware amendments must be made when they tackle Townsville at Vector Arena.

Time and again on Wednesday night, the Breakers were beaten in the key rebounding battle - an area in which they have long prided themselves - and Adelaide were able to make the most of the second chances they were handed on the offensive glass.

So with the Crocs set to bring a big but bruised line-up, having also lost their opener, Mika Vukona implored his team-mates to immediately fix the facet at fault earlier in the week. Win the battle, he reckons, and the Breakers will win the war.

"It wasn't something that we predicted," Vukona said of his side's rebounding struggles. "[Adelaide] just came out and smacked us in the face really hard in that second quarter and we didn't recover.

"[Townsville] are a team who can crash the boards from 1-5. That's something we need to stop."

It was something the Breakers failed to achieve against the 36ers, who lost 79-66 to Perth last night. The Breakers allowed 20 offensive rebounds and were particularly generous in an opening half that decided the game. Vukona, his side's leader on court and, especially, under the hoop, insisted the lesson had been learned ahead of this afternoon.

"Our effort areas just weren't there," Vukona said. "When you allow one guy to get five offensive rebounds within a two-minute stretch, it's always going to be hard.

"Giving up O-boards, boxing out and just moving the ball around offensively, those are the main things we learned as a team coming out of that game."

The Breakers also learned of the importance of Tom Abercrombie and Alex Pledger, although that was no great shock. Abercrombie should be fit to return to the starting five for the encounter with the Crocs, and Vukona was unsurprisingly keen for his mate to take the floor.

"Tom's obviously one of the key members of our team and as soon as we can put him in there, defensively, we're a way better team. Offensively, it's the same thing. Any time he laces up, it's a positive for us, and the guys will get confidence from that."