Basketball: Abercrombie eyes Adelaide start

Tom Abercrombie of the Breakers slam dunks. Photo / Getty Images

CJ Bruton might not be the only Breaker returning for tomorrow night's home opener at Vector Arena.

The Breakers will honour Bruton's legacy at the club by retiring his No 23 jersey before the encounter with Adelaide, a game in which Tom Abercrombie is hoping to feature.

Abercrombie sat out his side's confidence-boosting victory in Perth last weekend, having been consigned to the sidelines after undergoing surgery to repair a hernia.

The initial prognosis called for a rehab time approaching two weeks, which is set to end right around the time the 36ers come to town. Abercrombie had talked before the operation of his determination to recover in time for what will be a special night, and there were promising signs this week the swingman would manage to achieve that aim.

Abercrombie was partially involved in practice to start off the week and remained on the right track for recovery, one of three Breakers starters looking to shake off health concerns to take the court against Adelaide.

Alex Pledger will probably have to prove his fitness on a weekly basis for much of the season, with the alternative option to treat his toe injury being season-ending surgery.

Neither the club nor player wants to resort to that drastic measure and Pledger's involvement against Perth provided cause for optimism. The big man played almost 14 minutes off the bench and, while he hardly filled out the stat sheet, his presence under the rim helped restrict a dangerous Wildcats offence to 70 points.

The other member of the crocked trio is Corey Webster, who failed to return against Perth after being substituted in the second quarter. The shooting guard took a knock to the back that tightened up but wasn't expected to miss any more time.

A full complement will only help the Breakers mark Bruton's big night with a win and improve to 2-0 on the early season.

There is danger in letting the emotion of the occasion interfere with the task at hand - as Perth probably noticed on the night they raised their championship banner - but assistant coach Paul Henare said the side would be wary of that.

"We have to be sure we don't let the pre-game stuff around CJ become a distraction," he said.

"We have to be good enough to deal with that and go through our processes and get on with playing and executing from the get-go on Friday."

3 things about Breakers' second game

On high

CJ Bruton's jersey will be the third raised to the rafters by the Breakers, following in the footsteps of Paul Henare and Dillon Boucher.

No match really
New Adelaide guard Jamar Wilson matched Cedric Jackson with 22 points in week one but couldn't prevent the 36ers from losing.

Homecoming
The Breakers have won seven and lost four home openers in their 11-season history, although they are 5-1 in the previous six.