KEY POINTS:
New Zealand Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis is doing his utmost to remain positive despite their trough of form deepening with two more losses in the Australian National Basketball League.
The Breakers endured a substandard road trip to slip one place to fourth.
A 103-98 loss to the lowly Wollongong Hawks on Friday was followed by a 102-91 defeat at the hands of the Adelaide 36ers last night.
Lemanis admitted his team's form had deserted them in 2009 - having now lost eight of nine matches - but he had faith in them to turn it round if they keep working hard.
"We're not that far off," he said.
"It's one of those things where right now you feel like everything's going against you and the world's going against you."
The Breakers were sluggish in the first half to trail Adelaide 41-58 before fighting back but they never got within eight points of the lead.
Lemanis pointed to a flukey three-point shot by Adelaide veteran Brett Maher from near the centre line midway through the final quarter - which sparked a scoring flurry from the hosts - as summing up the momentum against his team.
"You then feel like everything's going against you, but at the end of the day, you've got to make your own luck and the team is doing a good job of staying together," he said.
"We're losing and no-one likes that. That's why we're frustrated and angry."
The Breakers struggled with their shooting in both games, clearly missing go-to man Kirk Penney, who stayed at home to nurse a knee injury and nose infection.
There were game-high efforts from Phill Jones (25) and Oscar Forman (26) in the respective games but they and their teammates struggled to clear 50 per cent success rates from the field.
New Zealand can virtually guarantee a fourth place finish - and possibly third - if they win their penultimate game at home to the Cairns Taipans on Thursday.
The third and fourth-placed teams will have home advantage against the fifth and sixth-placed teams in two sudden death quarterfinals.
A loss to the seventh-placed Taipans would leave them with a crucial final match away to the eighth-placed Sydney Spirit on Saturday.
"I don't think there's any doubts in the group," Lemanis said.
"If we keep believing and keep working hard, things will go our way.
"Certainly there's belief in each other and there's belief that if we continue to do the work, things will come our way."
- NZPA
