Basketball: Breakers need local success to ignite campaign

SYDNEY - The New Zealand Breakers need a successful six-match home schedule to get their Australian NBL campaign back on track after suffering a fifth successive loss.

Tipped as playoff contenders before the season started, the Breakers returnedfrom Melbourne yesterday in 11th place in the 12-team competition after a 90-78 loss to Victoria Giants at the Melbourne Aquatic and Sports Centre on Saturday night.

Twenty-four hours earlier Adelaide racked up a 134-105 victory - the highest score the Breakers have conceded so far.

Breakers head coach Jeff Green was frustrated that another potential away win (against the Giants) had escaped his depleted squad.

The New Zealanders led 38-34 at halftime on the back of a strong defensive effort, but the Giants came home strongly and a three-pointer barrage in the penultimate quarter proved decisive.

"Even without our injured stars [forwards Pero Cameron and Ben Melmeth] we all knew that was a game we could have and should have won," Green said.

"We worked so hard in the first half to stop them scoring - only for them to hit us with three three-pointers in a row at the start of the second half that were like daggers."

Despite restricting the Giants to 34 points in the first half, the Breakers again produced a poor overall shooting performance - landing just 33 per cent from the field - to undermine any prospect of registering their first away win in the ANBL in four attempts.

- NZPA