Basketball: Breakers rank 3rd in ANBL at scoring

The Breakers' finer points and faults are highlighted by an ANBL statistics survey that has them third-best scorers in the league but also top of the turnovers and the team with the most foul calls against them.

The stats also show they play better at home than in Australia, with their free-throw and field-goal percentages falling away when they are away and the turnover rate rising while the number of steals they take declines.

They shoot 48 per cent from the field at Trusts Stadium, 44.3 per cent when playing away. Conversely, opposition sides shoot 45 per cent at Trusts Stadium and 50 per cent when hosting the Breakers.

They gift 25 turnovers when on the road, just 16 at home. Their opponents' stats average 18 home-and-away. Playing away, the Breakers average just six steals but at home they grab 11.

They top the shot-blocking stats, an average 5.88 per game but also the turnover stats, 21.8 average.

They are also the most heavily penalised team, called for an average 26.6 fouls per game. Sydney Kings average 25.3, prompting Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis to comment that maybe leading the fouls wasn't such a bad thing given the Kings have won consecutive titles.

But Lemanis conceded the turnover stat had been a concern from game one when they gave away 47 against Cairns.

"As a team we set a goal of 16 or less per game, and the only time we've achieved that was in the win over Hunter. With the up-tempo style we play, you have to expect some."

Lemanis is pleased with their scoring ability, third in the league behind Cairns and Townsville with a 102 average.

"If we can keep the scoring ticking over, it keeps pressure on the opposition," he said.

The Wollongong Hawks centre, Tall Black Tony Rampton, is the best rebounder in the league with an average just over 12 a game and has won one player-of-the-week award this season. On Sunday at Trusts Stadium the Breakers need to out-hustle Rampton and keep the Hawks and Boomers star Glen Saville quiet.

The game starts at the unusual time of 4.30pm to suit television, after two noon tip-offs.

Olson near record

Aaron Olson is averaging 20.9 points per game and needs 17 to overtake Mike Chappell's club-high 1034. Olson and captain Paul Henare are the only two players to have appeared in all 73 games.

The high foul count against the Auckland team is in some degree due to their American imports, who are still learning the vagaries of local refereeing.

Brant Bailey is called more than four times a game, Rich Melzer three and Bailey also features high on the turnovers and travels list. Bailey gets around 19 points a game and Melzer 15. When that stat begins to rise and others decline the Breakers will be winning more frequently.

Bailey has overcome a leg problem but had a debilitating stomach virus this week. AJ Majstrovich suffered a knee strain and missed early trainings but is expected to play. The Hawks have lost Andrew Rice with a broken foot.

Centres rated

The ANBL is rating players position by position based on 2004 stats and this week featured centres.

The Taipans' Chris Burgess is No 1 after 2004 but has been out injured this year. Tony Rampton, who left Cairns for Wollongong to get out from Burgess' shadow, is No 3. The Breakers' Ben Pepper is listed as eighth-best, and the man he replaced, Hunter's Ben Melmeth, is ninth.