Basketball: Boucher says Breakers must be more ruthless

Dillon Boucher (L) says the Breakers tend to get comfortable when they take the lead. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The Breakers will be aiming for more - and less - of the same when they attempt to extend their unbeaten home ANBL start against Gold Coast Blaze tonight.

More of the same would be another win without the still ailing Kirk Penney. The less refers to their recent habit of letting 20-plus point leads evaporate.

Last week's overtime victory over the 36ers somewhat papered over the fact the Breakers let a 24-point third quarter lead morph into a four-point deficit in the space of about eight minutes.

It was a similar story a week earlier, when what should have been a routine victory over the Crocodiles turned into a final-quarter dog fight.

"I don't think it's any one thing that's causing it," forward Dillon Boucher said.

"We are a team that when we get a lead we probably get a bit too comfortable and don't seem to slam it down teams' throats."

A run of missed simple shots sparked last week's meltdown but it was the defence that needed to step up when the team fell in a hole, Boucher said.

"We just dried up for a wee bit there and we need to find a way to get through those dry spells. We have to do it at the defensive end. That is something we understand but probably just don't execute well enough. We focus more on getting our offence right but if we are missing and they are missing it doesn't make any difference to the score.

"We need to get stops when we are drying up offensively, that's all it is."

There was no change on Penney's status, with the star shooting guard still sidelined. Penney, who has been out since early October, again felt pain in his troublesome back this week and there must now be growing concern at his prolonged absence.

Alex Pledger is also out, with a knee injury likely sidelining the back-up big man for up to four weeks.

That could see Jeremiah Trueman receive his first appearance this season, with coach Andrej Lemanis saying the Tall Black forward had impressed in training.

The Breakers (4-3) have an unblemished 5-0 record against the Blaze (3-5), with the average winning margin over 15 points.

Both teams are averaging 84 points per game this season, although the Breakers have conceded four points a game fewer that the visitors.

They may have shot an awful 4/22 from beyond the arc in last week's victory but the dominance in the paint of Rick Rickert and Thomas Abercrombie suggested the Breakers' offence is close to clicking.

An increased effort on getting down court on offensive transition was helping to create easy baskets for a team that had often relied on jump shots for the bulk of its scoring, Lemanis said.

"That is something we have been good at but perhaps we had fallen in love with it a little too much and started to get loose in other areas," he said.

"As a coach I take responsibility for letting things slip but the last three weeks we have really been hammering that, sprinting lanes and cutting to the basket to score.

"Are we going to play without shooting the three, of course not. That is still one of our strengths. But we will also play according to what the opposition gives us."