Basketball: It's time to turn season around

By PETER JESSUP


The Breakers' key import, Mike Chappell, has been hot in training this week as the team head into their clash with the Cairns Taipans at the Trusts Stadium tonight.

As Chappell has struggled this season, so has the team, low on points and short of shooting accuracy.

Chappell revealed yesterday that as well as the turned ankle with which he started the season, he has been bothered by a shoulder muscle tear that caused pain in his neck. "It did affect my shot."

His stats this year are average: 13.9 points after nine games, 38 per cent accuracy from field goals and 36 per cent beyond the three-point arc.

Last year he produced the league's second-best scoring at 22.7 points average, with 44 per cent field-goal average and 40 per cent of his three-shots going down.

The ankle is healed now and he feels better physically than he has for some weeks and better able to deal with the extra attention he has earned as last season's star shooter.

"Teams are definitely paying a lot more attention to me [on defence]," he said.

"We have to adjust - the team is different this year. We have more options with Ben Pepper and Ben Thompson and Shawn Redhage."

Chappell said the team still felt as if they were seeking the best combinations, that timing and chemistry were still improving.

"That's a process that will continue through the season - I think we have a fair bit of improvement in us yet."

There are no injury concerns for the Breakers as they face the Taipans, who won 104-87 over the Melbourne Tigers in Cairns on Wednesday night to give them a four-from-eight record that has them near the foot of the table with the Breakers.

Chappell said the home side were still feeling cheated by the narrow loss to title favourites Brisbane last weekend and that performance had made them rededicate themselves with belief they could and should win. "Brisbane played well; we made them beat us."

Coach Frank Arsego uses a similar phrase. "If we play as well as we did against Brisbane, Cairns will have to play very well to beat us."

He still regards last weekend as their best effort. "The combinations are working better, we were executing better under pressure."

The coach said he felt no undue pressure on the team.

They had learned the standard they could achieve against Brisbane and the goal was to keep improving, "to show people that all the work we're doing is working".

But he agreed they had to win - for credibility, crowd and their run at the competition's playoffs.

The visitors' best are Chris Burgess, who features in the league-leading stats for scoring, rebounds and blocks, and fellow import Marcus Timmons, captain Anthony Stewart, Tall Black Tony Rampton and guard Aaron Grabau.

Townsville beat the Kings 109-91 in Sydney on Wednesday night.


The Teams

NZ Breakers: Pero Cameron (11) and Paul Henare (32) joint captains, Ben Pepper (31), Mike Chappell (20), Aaron Olson (22), Shawn Redhage (42), Ben Thompson (12), Lindsay Tait (4), Dillon Boucher (24), Blake Truslove (41).

Cairns Taipans: Anthony Stewart (23) captain, Tony Rampton (12), Marcus Timmons (7), Chris Burgess (34), Aaron Grabau (8), Gary Boodnikoff (20), Brendan Clowry (11), Brad Robbins (5), Nathan Crosswell (21), Deba George (15), Tim Behrendorf (32).