KEY POINTS:
Point guard Paul Henare sees the New Zealand Breakers' range of threats as a key strength in a season that could well end with a first appearance in the Australian National Basketball League playoffs.
The Breakers lifted themselves back into the top four last night by holding off a second-half comeback by the South Dragons to snare a 107-104 win in Auckland.
Victory again came via contributions from a range of sources, with Kirk Penney leading the way with a game-high 24 points, as well collecting as nine rebounds.
Phill Jones (18), Tony Ronaldson (17) and Oscar Forman (17), also got into double figures in scoring.
Foreman added 13 rebounds to his statistics, while Mika Vukona got 10 boards and seven points.
"I think one of the strengths we've had all year is the number of threats on the floor - we don't rely on one or two guys to do the majority of the scoring," Henare said.
"Yes, Kirk Penney is a standout player and he's going to score a lot of points, but we have guys all over the floor who can step up in different ways."
The result over the Dragons gave the Breakers their sixth win in their last eight matches and they got past the Melbourne side without their two American imports - point guard Wayne Turner and centre Rick Rickerts.
Turner is out for the season with a thigh muscle tear, while Rickerts has a back problem.
Others, like Penney and Ronaldson, were carrying injuries that had had limited their time at training this week, while Henare himself was troubled by sore knees.
"It's just really pleasing that we're not sulking about these injuries," Henare said.
"Yes, it's tough, but life goes on."
Coach Andrej Lemanis described the Breakers' performance against the Dragons as gutsy given the casualty ward.
The loss of Turner and Rickerts had disrupted the Breakers last week as they went down to a heavy home defeat to Cairns.
This time around, they were better prepared and they were out to prove a point.
"Maybe last week, we were a little shell shocked at having to deal with everything all of a sudden," he said.
"Going into this week, we knew what we had coming in. It was like, 'This is it, we're a good basketball team,' and we came out and played well."
Lemanis said Rickerts had had an epidural for his back - "no, he's not pregnant" - and the Breakers would have a better idea early next week about when Rickerts would be back on court.
Turner's absence will be softened by the arrival today of American Orien Greene, 25, who has made 128 NBA appearances for the Boston Celtics, the Indiana Pacers and the Sacramento Kings.
Lemanis indicated that he wanted Greene, who was with the Kings until a fortnight ago, to fit in with the Breakers' team pattern, rather than vice versa.
"We've got ourselves someone obviously with good skills and good credentials, which is great," he said.
"But it's important we make the point that we are not expecting him to come in to be an NBA superstar.
"It's about getting all the skill sets matched together and everyone understanding each other's strength and how we play."
- NZPA
