Basketball: League leading Kings wary of Breakers

Sydney Kings coach Brian Goorjian insists his team won't be hot favourites when his side meets the New Zealand Breakers in round 13 of the Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) tonight.

The Breakers host the ANBL defending champions at the North Shore Events Centre (tip-off 7.40pm), and while there may be eight teams between the Kings and Breakers on the league ladder, Goorjian said he has the utmost respect for a rejuvenated opponent.

"Having been involved with the Tall Blacks through the Olympics qualifying series (Goorjian is also the Australian national team coach), I've got tremendous respect for the Breakers," he said.

"They've got talent throughout and I don't see a weakness to their game now.

"For some reason, they didn't seem to be together at the start of the season -- maybe there was some burn-out from the international season, they had Pero Cameron out then Ben Melmeth went down."

"But everyone's firing now," Goorjian said.

"They have good targets inside, good size, experience and good perimeter shooting."

"And their new import (Mike Chappell) adds a lot -- he has a great outside/inside game."

Breakers head coach Frank Arsego knows that while Goorjian is wary of the playoff chasing Breakers, there's no disguising who the ANBL top dog is.

The Kings currently head the league with 15 wins from 18 matches, averaging 114 points a game.

"We'll have to get close to playing our best game of the season if we want to beat them," Arsego admitted.

"We'll have to defend well -- they shoot a high percentage and are capable of running up the score."

"But if we can do that and get our offensive game going, get out and run when we can, then we'll push them hard."

Arsego said the lack of production from new Kings import Joe Brown -- a replacement for injured Boomers guard Jason Smith -- in his first game for the club last Saturday against the Adelaide 36ers shouldn't hurt the defending champions.

"They may only play six or seven players for the majority of minutes -- but they're all very good players and used to playing most of the game."

Arsego said Kings import Ebi Ere was a quality player and one they would have to watch closely.

The 1.94m forward, a former US college star with University of Oklahoma, averages 17 points and six rebounds per game in his first season with the Kings.

Two other lynchpins for the visitors will be skipper Matthew Nielsen and point guard C J Bruton.

"They've got a lot of size but so do we," Arsego said.

"There big players are probably a little more athletic than ours but we're probably a bit more physical so that should be a great battle."

Goorjian said the Kings "had been moving along nicely this season until Jason (Smith) went down".

"That's left us a bit thin -- that's why I think Saturday will be a real challenge for us in terms of talent and depth."

"I know we're not going to catch anybody sleeping -- everyone's pumped up to play the Kings and the Breakers will be no exception."

* Teams:

New Zealand Breakers: Pero Cameron (captain), Ben Melmeth (vice-captain), Paul Henare, Aaron Olson, Phill Jones, Paora Winitana, Dillon Boucher, Mike Chappell, Iona Enosa, Blake Truslove, Lindsay Tait, Mike Homik.

Sydney Kings: B J Carter, Graeme Dann, Joe Brown, David Stiff, Bradley Sheridan, Brett Wheeler, Ebi Ere, Luke Martin, C J Bruton, Matthew Nielsen.

- NZPA