KEY POINTS:
The Breakers head into their first road trip of the season - against Cairns tonight and Gold Coast on Saturday - looking to show their place at the top of the NBL ladder is down to more than just a cushy run of five home games to start the season.
The third-placed Taipans (4-2) inflicted the only defeat of that run on the Breakers (4-1), 122-111 in round three. But the Cairns Convention Centre has been a happy hunting ground for a Breakers team that has struggled to win in Australia. Last season the Breakers won just five of 17 matches across the Tasman, but their successes included a regular season defeat of the Taipans and a stunning victory in the first round of the playoffs.
Last Thursday's laboured win over the winless Blaze saw the Breakers further pad their statistics. Their potent offence now leads the league in scoring, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, free-throw percentage and assists.
But with his team dead-last in rebounding and still struggling to find their defensive rhythm, coach Andrej Lemanis knows the Breakers are still very much a work in progress.
"We are expected to win our home games and that is all that we have done; win four of our first five home games," Lemanis said.
"Spread those out through the season and it is not a startling statistic. We have to improve as a unit and show we can play away from home in a hostile environment. It is important that we maintain the good momentum we have enjoyed as a result of our five-game stretch at home."
Phill Jones' hot streak has seen him move to the top of the league's three-point shooting averages. Jones hit four of six to help subdue the Blaze, taking his tally to 14 of 22 on the season. His .636 success rate places him first among players with more than 10 attempts, while CJ Bruton (.526) is third and Oscar Forman (.486) eighth.
But the Breakers showed against the Blaze they are more than just long-bomb merchants. Kirk Penney, the league's leading scorer, struggled to find open shots from the perimeter but his ability to penetrate on the dribble forced the Blaze into giving up fouls and he made them pay from the free-throw line, making 14 of 15 in a 29-point haul.
No opponent has yet found a way to shut down Penney and he looms as a key figure against the Taipans tonight. Penney should be good for around 30 points, but the Breakers will also need to shut down the likes of Darnell Mee, Larry Abney and Martin Cattalini.
Mee had 29 points and seven assists when the teams met in Auckland, while Abney had 10 points and dominated the boards with a game-high 13 rebounds. Veteran forward Cattalini, one of the Taipans' most potent scoring threats, missed that encounter after being suspended over a drink-driving charge but returned with 17 points in his side's 102-87 victory over the Blaze on Saturday.
