Basketball: No time for a knees up

Mika Vukona has been at the heart of the Breakers stellar season. Photo / Getty Images

Mika Vukona will give himself a week off after the Breakers' season has come to an end.

It could be tonight when they take on Cairns in game two of the best-of-three final series or it could be on Wednesday if the Taipans can snatch a win at home.

After that short break, Vukona will head to Nelson to join up with the Giants to play in the New Zealand NBL. Rest doesn't seem to figure in Vukona's thinking, even though he is damaged goods.

"A week is a long time in basketball," he says heartily.

He ought to know. A fortnight ago, the Breakers were given little chance of beating Perth in Perth after a first-up hiding in Auckland in game one. Vukona was also given little chance of playing in that match because of the knee injury he sustained early in the first game.

Later that Sunday, the Breakers were the team to beat again and Vukona the man of the moment after defying medical predictions to inspire his team-mates to an important win even if he was, quite literally, on one leg.

Vukona's knee is improving but it's far from pain-free. He doesn't feel it in games - he doesn't let it squeeze into his consciousness - but it gives him considerable grief afterwards. It swells and stiffens, restricting his movement and limiting his ability to train between games, but affords himself little more than anti-inflammatories to quell the pain.

He wouldn't be playing if it was the regular season but being on the brink of a championship isn't a regular happening. The Breakers haven't come all that close in their eight years as a club and Vukona was determined nothing would get in the way.

There are so many things that have made the Breakers successful this season, from Kirk Penney's scoring and Tom Abercrombie's athleticism to Gary Wilkinson's touch and Paul Henare's drive.

But forward Dillon Boucher doesn't think they would be on the verge of a championship if it wasn't for Vukona. They would have been beaten by Perth in game two of their semifinal series.

"I don't think we would have won and be in the position we are now without him," Boucher says. "He's such a physical presence on the court. He's always doing the dirty work and is a true warrior. Just to have him for that game was a huge emotional boost."

No one, other than Vukona, gave him any chance of playing against Perth. He boarded the plane largely for moral support and because it could have been the club's last game of the season. Coach Andrej Lemanis was still sceptical, even after Vukona had passed a fitness test.

On Wednesday night against Cairns, he was his usual bustling self. He contributed seven points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. He also set countless screens, ran good lines and gave his team-mates good looks at the basket. Penney, Wilkinson and Alex Pledger received the plaudits, which suited Vukona just fine.

There is widespread belief the Breakers will win their first title either tonight or on Wednesday. Complacency looms as their biggest threat. It infiltrated Perth after their convincing first-up win over the Breakers and it can't help but seep into the Breakers' consciousness - especially after the way they dismantled Cairns on Wednesday.

"There's a cockiness that can come into a team," admits Vukona, who won an Australian NBL title with the Souths Dragons in 2008. "We are a confident team. We have always believed in ourselves throughout the season.

"But I believe we will go into their gym and play with the same intensity we have at home. You don't want to let them come up for air.

"We would love to win it at home, do it on your own soil and in front of our own fans but, at the same time, we want to take it out in two."