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SYDNEY - If star New Zealand Breakers basketball guard CJ Bruton plays like that, anything is possible.
That's the view of Sydney Spirit coach Rob Beveridge, who rated the Breakers a genuine Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) title threat after they dispatched his team 107-97 here last night.
Led by a slick display from Bruton, who scored a game-high 30 points, the third-placed Breakers ended with an 18-12 regular season record and secured back-to-back wins ahead a knockout playoff against Adelaide in Auckland on Thursday.
"CJ's a great ball player and he just takes them to a different level," Beveridge said.
"He's a very special player for that group. Even Kirk Penney was a bit off tonight, but if they can have everybody on the same page, they've got experience, they've got talent, they've got everything you require to win a championship.
"They're a legitimate title contender, but I still think Melbourne are the No 1 team with the best talent, and the (South) Dragons are the best defensive team. New Zealand could be the dark horse."
It was no coincidence that the Breakers slumped to a run of eight defeats from nine matches in the New Year when Bruton was recovering from an ankle injury.
And coach Andrej Lemanis insisted that form slump was forgotten, buoyant at the thought all his players were fully fit ahead of the first home playoff in the club's six-year history.
"This is the first time we've been 100 per cent healthy since December when CJ did his ankle. When he's 100 per cent he's pretty good," Lemanis said.
Bruton was a confident presence all night, scoring 18 of his points from three-point range, with an impressive six-of-eight return.
He took control while the league's leading scorer, Penney, had a rare off-night, shooting just four-of-14 from the field and 15 points in total.
It was hardly vintage Breakers early on, although there was nothing riding on the match.
After a patchy first half when they shot poorly at just 37 per cent from the field, defended loosely and trailed 48-49 at the main break, the visitors won the final quarter 36-22 as benchman Phill Jones hit 16 of his 23 points in that period.
Key shooter Oscar Forman's radar was also awry, but he still bagged 15 points and led the rebound count with 12.
Lemanis felt his full strength side were in the right mood to make a run at the title.
If they knock over sixth-placed Adelaide on Thursday, the Breakers next face the Tigers in the best-of-three semifinals starting in Melbourne on February 25.
"Our group's always been confident, that's the beauty of having experienced guys who have won before; they have a belief in themselves and they always have a belief in their team, and that filters through.
"We've spoken about it forever, that this group is good enough to achieve some things. We've given ourselves an opportunity to have a crack at it."
There was plenty of emotion at fulltime, with the cash-strapped Spirit franchise playing their final match before disbanding as they ended with the season with eight successive losses.
Captain Jason Smith, a veteran Australian guard, felt the Breakers could be a threat but third may well be their lot.
"I think it'll be the two Melbourne teams in the final," he said.
"If New Zealand can really shoot the ball well they'll be very difficult to beat, it's whether they can withstand the pressure."
- NZPA
