Basketball: Fired-up Breakers push even harder

A new intensity at Breakers training after their recent successes has helped bridge a 10-day gap between their last game and the encounter with the Adelaide 36ers at Trusts Stadium tonight.

Back-up centre Tim Behrendorff is their only injury concern, but a slight groin strain is not expected to rule him out.

The 36ers come on the back of a six-game winning streak but may already have one eye on their next game, against title favourites Brisbane - a situation the Breakers might press.

Adelaide's new-season buy, Mark Nash, is out with a hip injury but a formidable line-up includes three players familiar in the local league - Jacob Holmes who was with Nelson, Dusty Rychart who was at Hawkes Bay and David Cooper, the Palmerston North Jets centre. Holmes, Boomer Brett Maher and import Will Farley make up one of the most impressive guard lines in the league.

The Breakers' import Brant Bailey said their coach had done a good job scouting the 36ers and they were well prepared for the game. Bailey has no twinges from the ankle problem he suffered earlier in the season and feels he's finding his way into the league now. Certainly his improved points-scoring would suggest that.

"Everyone is trying a bit harder now, everyone is passing better and rebounding better and that's helping me," he said. The officials were also getting used to seeing his trademark spin-and-deliver move and so he was being called for travels less frequently, something that had frustrated him early on.

Bailey said the standard of the league was very similar to some he'd played in in Europe, particularly Poland, where it is also physical, "big bodies, lots of big bodies, more coming off the bench".

The match officials here and there allowed a lot of banging, he said.

"I think they ref the game to favour the Australian style, there's more pushing and shoving, you get away with a bit more."

After playing in leagues in Belgium, England, the Netherlands and Venezuela as well as his native United States, Bailey is settling in and enjoying the Kiwi lifestyle. He enjoys the Breakers' fast-break style and has the speed to exploit the running-the-floor game they have employed.

The Breakers will have support from the Kiwis league team who are special guests at tonight's game, tip-off for which is at 7.40pm. They then face two tough away games in Sydney and Adelaide.