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KEY POINTS:
Strength out of adversity. That's the line the Breakers are preaching ahead of tomorrow night's sudden-death quarter-final against the Adelaide 36ers.
The New Zealand ANBL club has certainly ticked the adversity box, dropping nine of 10 matches down the stretch to put their home-court advantage for the opening phase of the play-offs in jeopardy.
But, having finished the regular season with consecutive home and away wins, there are signs the strength that saw them dominate the league for the first two-thirds of the season may have returned.
"You've got to take the good with the bad, that's part of sport and part of life," point guard CJ Bruton said of the prolonged slump.
"It all happened for a reason and it strengthened each and every one of us.
"It comes down to the belief. You go through it and you move on."
Moving on is just what the Breakers are aiming to do. If they beat Adelaide they will take on title favourites Melbourne Tigers in a best of three semi-final series starting in Melbourne next Wednesday.
With Adelaide having won just three of 15 away matches all season, home advantage would appear to be huge for the Breakers in the winner-takes-all encounter.
One of Adelaide's road wins did, however, come in Auckland - in round 10 when Bruton pulled out after suffering back spasms in the warm-up.
With Phill Jones already suspended, the 36ers coasted to a 10-point win, reversing a 38-point defeat when the teams first met in round three.
The 36ers also prevailed in the most recent encounter between the clubs, winning 102-91 in round 27 in Adelaide against a Breakers side missing injured star Kirk Penney.
Both teams should be at full strength tomorrow night and Bruton, who already has three NBL titles with Sydney and Brisbane to his credit, believes the Breakers will thrive on the intensity of playoff basketball.
"At the end of the day you have 48 minutes to play and when it is over you don't want to say 'man, I'm sorry I let you guys down and didn't bring it'. You bring the energy and hope that everything you've done during the year pays off."
* How it works
Quarter-finals
One-off matches. Winners advance, losers eliminated.
Tonight: Perth Wildcats (4) v Townsville Crocodiles (5), Perth
Tomorrow night: Breakers (3) v Adelaide 36ers (6)
Semifinals
Best of three. Two out of three matches played at home of highest-ranked team.
Souths Dragons (1) v Perth or Townsville
Melbourne Tigers (2) v Breakers or Adelaide
Grand Final Series
Best of five. Three games to be played at home of highest-ranked team.
