Basketball: Pre-season tourney to open Breakers' new home court

By PETER JESSUP

The Breakers go into their first pre-season games this weekend after just five days training as a team behind them.

The mini-tournament against fellow Australian NBL sides will also mark the opening of their new home, the impressive Trusts Stadium in West Auckland.

The Tall Blacks rejoined the squad post-Athens on Monday and the Breakers' last two imports, Shawn Redhage, an American-born forward who has been playing in Tasmania and former Perth guard Ben Thompson, have been in town for about a fortnight. Centre Ben Pepper has three weeks with the squad behind him.

The Breakers have signed Otago guard Haydn Allen following the injuries to development players Lance Baker and Valance McCarthy in a car accident.

Allen immediately showed his commitment to the side by jumping a ride with a truck-driving mate for a two-day trip north to join the pre-season preparation.

The Breakers' opponents for this weekend's matches, the Hunter Pirates, Wollongong and Adelaide all flew in yesterday.

Prime Minister Helen Clark will cut the ribbon on the $25 million venue with a variety of sports contests to follow, from rugby to netball and volleyball. The Breakers play Hunter at 3pm today with a game between Wollongong and Adelaide to follow. Tomorrow Adelaide play Hunter at 1pm with the Breakers and Wollongong at 4pm.

The Adelaide 36ers and the Breakers kick off the new NBL season on September 29 at the new stadium and they have a pre-season measure-up against each other in Taranaki on Tuesday night.

Nelson forward Mika Vukona turned his ankle in training yesterday but the Breakers expect to showcase every other player on their roster during this weekend's contest.

Next weekend they compete in the NBL blitz in Cairns. All 11 NBL sides are involved with the Australian local league champs Cairns Marlins making up the numbers for two pools of six.

Games are of two 12-minute halves, with a two-minute break at halftime and a 15-minute break between games. The top four from each pool go on to quarter and semifinals then the final.