Kirk Penney. Photo / Getty Images.
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The Breakers will head into Thursday's crucial match against Cairns Taipans still sweating on the fitness of Kirk Penney and desperately needing to halt a slide of eight defeats in nine matches before it swamps their season.
Another two losses in the space of 24-hours, against the Wollongong
Hawks and Adelaide 36ers in Australia, has left the Breakers' once-promising campaign hanging by a thread.
After dominating the first two thirds of the season, their tumble from grace means the club needs to win one of its final two regular season games just to secure fourth spot and a home quarter-final. If they don't defeat the Taipans they will be forced to sup at the last chance saloon against the third-bottom Spirit in Sydney on Saturday night.
Having lost 103-98 to the Hawks on Friday and 102-91 to the 36ers on Saturday without Penney - who sat out the trip with a knee/hamstring injury - the return of their star shooting guard looks crucial to the Breakers' prospects.
"I don't know," coach Andrej Lemanis said from Adelaide yesterday when asked about Penney's fitness.
"I haven't spoken to Kirk but my understanding is that he is healing and should be all right for Thursday. But you never know until it actually happens."
The run of defeats was frustrating but Lemanis believed the presence of so many hardened veterans in the team would help them get back on track in time for the playoffs.
"We can't affect what has happened but we can affect what is going to happen," he said.
"It is not about getting back to where we were, we need to keep moving on.
"The season is played over 30 games and what we did earlier in the year has put us in a position to have a run at this thing. We are not losing sight of that.
"Obviously we want that home playoff spot but I don't think anybody is stressing out. We are a little frustrated about the losses but over the weekend [our] effort was good, the team unity was very good and there were signs against Adelaide that we are starting to get our flow back offensively."
Both of the Breakers' remaining opponents hit the wall during the middle of the season and have been operating on reduced budgets since being bailed out by the league.
Neither the Taipans or Spirit are in playoff contention but nor have they fallen apart completely. The Taipans have won three of their last five and, while the Spirit are on a seven-match losing streak, they did defeat the Breakers 86-85 in Sydney on January 3.
