KEY POINTS:
What: Breakers v Crocodiles
Where: North Shore Events Centre, 7.30 tonight
Tonight's clash against the Townsville Crocodiles looms as a key point in the Breakers' season as they look to halt a three-game losing skid and stay in the top two of the ANBL ladder.
An overtime loss to league leaders South Dragons last weekend saw the Breakers slip to a 15-7 record. With the Melbourne Tigers fast approaching at 12-8, the New Zealand side are in danger of relinquishing their place heading into the play-offs.
Not that it appears to be playing on the mind of Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis. Although his side are under the most pressure they have faced all season, he says the Breakers are not dwelling on their predicament.
"I think that's one of the great things about our group, we let everyone else worry about that, we just worry about the day-to-day.
"I don't think we've got too high on the wins and we're not going to get too low on the losses, I think we've got an experienced group who can stay emotionally stable, and at the end of the day it's just another game."
A very tough game at that.
In contrast to the Breakers faltering form, the fourth-placed Crocs head into tonight's match after three straight wins and are playing with confidence.
Star import Corey Williams has featured in all of those wins, while Rossell Ellis, Brad Williamson and Russell Hinder have been consistent.
The Crocs won the last meeting in round 12, producing a three-point barrage to defeat the Breakers 104-88 at the North Shore Events Centre.
Lemanis said the Crocs play with "reckless abandon" at the offensive end, making them very dangerous.
"They shoot freely, they shoot a lot of threes early and a lot of shots you wouldn't consider the best to take but they knock enough down and that makes them difficult and dangerous."
If the Breakers are to answer such a potent threat they will have to do so with little input from key playmaker CJ Bruton, who is still struggling with an ankle injury.
Bruton did play against the Dragons but was clearly hampered by the injury. Worryingly for Lemanis, Bruton's prognosis is still not much better this week.
"It's still not quite 100 per cent, it's just one of those things that continues to progress slowly."
Lemanis said it was likely his star point guard would once again be used sparingly off the bench to relieve stand-in guard Paul Henare.
"We'll see how it pulls up over the next 24 hours - it continues to be a day-to-day assessment because some days it's better than others. But we will make that call closer to game time."
