KEY POINTS:
Veteran basketballer Paul Henare says he's delighted the New Zealand Breakers will get a chance tonight to take revenge for their loss to the Melbourne Tigers.
The Breakers were decisively outplayed by the Tigers in the second half of their crucial match on the North Shore on Thursday night, losing 103-85 after going into the halftime break one point ahead.
The loss brings the Tigers level with the Breakers in second place on the ANBL with five matches remaining, and another loss will take the Breakers out of the top two for the first time this season.
The two teams meet again for another vital clash tonight, this time in Melbourne, and Henare said the Breakers would be fired up for the match.
"It's not often that you have that opportunity so quickly. Usually you have to wait a month or two," Henare said.
"There's nothing better than getting that chance, apart from winning."
Henare said the Breakers had played too much like individuals when the pressure went on in the second half.
"We'll look at the footage more closely but the best thing we can do in those situations is to let our systems that work well for us create our opportunities."
Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis said his team was "out-physicalled" by the Tigers.
"They were disruptive and we never got the flow into our offence," he said.
Both the Tigers and the Breakers will have vital matches after their return clash against the table-topping South Dragons.
- NZPA
