KEY POINTS:
It seems Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis was right all along.
Having preached from the beginning of this NBL season that his team possessed excellent depth, Lemanis watched his back-up players back up his words on Saturday night in Cairns.
Already missing starting point guard Wayne Turner, the Breakers lost key forward Tony Ronaldson to a stomach bug inside the first two minutes of their 107-87 victory over the much-fancied Taipans.
Kirk Penney's six three-pointers and game-high 30 points may have once again earned him the individual plaudits, but Lemanis was equally pleased with the way his bench players stepped up.
"Without two of our starters the team just kind of rolled along," Lemanis said. "There weren't any hiccups at all. Everyone just stepped in and continued to play a pretty good brand of basketball."
Tim Behrendorff stepped into the breach in place of Ronaldson, posting a season-high 29m 55s of court time.
Although his match statistics of four points and three rebounds were not earth-shattering, the Breakers clearly were not hurt by the prolonged presence of a player who has hardly featured at all this season.
Paul Henare also logged more than 30 minutes running the team from the point in place of Turner, while back-up Ryan Kersten had impressive numbers, shooting five from six from the field for 13 points.
Having come through a gruelling part of their schedule in style with four straight wins, the Breakers have an excellent chance of cementing their play-off position in coming weeks. Their next three games are all at home on consecutive Thursday nights.
The team has not lost at home since round two.
Lemanis, however, isn't popping the champagne corks.
"We are only a little way over a third of the way through the season," he said.
"There is a long way to go but I think our confidence is good. The most pleasing thing for me is the team chemistry. People are buying into their roles and understanding how they can help the group."
Ronaldson is expected to be fit for Thursday night's rematch with the Taipans but Turner still remains under a fitness cloud.
Lemanis said it was still too early to tell whether his star import would return this week.
"The physios all assure me that he'll be fine but I'm the sort of guy, until he's actually on court practising, I'm a little reluctant to say anything."
With winnable fixtures against the Taipans and Dragons preceding a home showdown with the top-of-table Kings, the next three weeks will go a long way to revealing whether the Breakers really are the genuine title contenders their recent form suggests they might be.
"Obviously we are pleased with where we are at but it is a tough league," Lemanis said. "The only thing that matters is the next game."
