Bastketball: Back on track but coach wants more

Ekene Ibekwe is beginning to form with Cedric Jackson perhaps the Breakers' best import duo ever. Picture / Getty Images

Starting the second half of the Australian NBL season, Breakers coach Dean Vickerman sat down with his staff and assessed some pre-season expectations.

Are the Breakers a great defensive team? Do they physically dominate the opposition? Can they count on one another to sacrifice for the greater good?

All of the above were answered in the affirmative, but it was a question never asked that would have provided the most satisfaction: are the Breakers back to being one of the competition's dominant teams?

Ahead of tonight's game against Townsville at the North Shore Events Centre, the evidence certainly suggests so. A win over the lowly Crocs (5-9) will solidify the Breakers' (11-4) spot atop the standings and leave only a Sunday trip to Cairns standing between the Kiwi club and a very merry Christmas.

While the first half of the campaign has ticked almost every box, eradicating the memory of the previous season and positioning the Breakers for a serious playoff push, there were still a few parts of the pre-season vision left to achieve.

So with a light practice load after last week's successful double-header against Perth and Melbourne - perhaps the high point of the year to date - those areas have been the focus as the Breakers attempt to fulfil the mandate imposed at season's start.

"One of the things I did with our staff was to go back to our vision at the start of the year," Vickerman said. "I presented the vision document again to them and said, 'Are we that team right now?'

"We ticked off a lot of those areas pretty well but there's so much more we can still get better at."

Some of that improvement will come in the team's communication, already a strong point and a facet that has received compliments from the opposition.

Other amendments will be seen in individuals as the Breakers, always more than the sum of their parts, pay strict attention to the latter for the benefit of the former.

"We'll just do a really quiet half-year review over the next couple of days with these guys," Vickerman said. "We're just trying to find those triggers to get them going for the second half of the year.

"But I think everyone knows they've got more to give and we're at a pretty good point if everyone believes that."

A couple of players name-checked were those either new to the club or in new roles. Ekene Ibekwe, having spent a year away from basketball, is beginning to form with Cedric Jackson perhaps the Breakers' best import duo ever. Tai Wesley is also finding his way, while Reuben Te Rangi is growing into his role as a first-year starter.

But, as always, Jackson is leading the charge, still attempting to surpass his high standards as he guides his team through the remainder of the campaign and, all going well, back to the finals.

"I thought he made really good improvements in the second quarter of the season," Vickerman said. "He came here and he wanted to make sure he shot the three-ball better than he did last time and he's done that so far."

That aspect, when working well, makes Jackson an incredibly dangerous prospect and makes the Breakers the team to beat in the second half of the season.