As the father of a three-day-old son, guard Lindsay Tait is determined to mark his first Father's Day in style when the New Zealand Breakers tip off in the Australian NBL tomorrow.
The Breakers open the 2005-06 season by hosting the Cairns Taipans at the Trusts Stadium in Waitakere.
Then
they hit the road and the tough realities of the pro league with away games against the Hawks in Wollongong on Thursday, the Razorbacks in Sydney next Saturday, then competition favourites the Brisbane Bullets the following Wednesday.
With new captain Paul Henare easing back into action after a painful thigh injury, Tait has been guiding the team in the last few matches of the pre-season programme and may be called on to start.
He is itching to help bury memories of last year's wooden-spoon finish by leading from the front.
"We've had a pretty disjointed pre-season, but it's time to play and we're focused on the two championship points," he said.
The Breakers have won only one pre-season skirmish out of seven, but have been disrupted by Tall Black commitments, injury and a family tragedy.
They have had the week to work on their defence after returning from a series of pre-season matches and the Blitz tournament in Cairns.
New import Brant Bailey, who returned to Auckland two days ago, has trained a handful of times with his team-mates after being granted compassionate leave to attend his sister's funeral in the United States.
The unavailability of four Tall Blacks - Tait, Henare, Mika Vukona and Aaron Olson - has been a problem for new coach Andrej Lemanis, as was a foot injury to the exciting new import Rich Melzer.
Melzer recovered sufficiently to lead all scorers at last weekend's Blitz tournament.
He and another American, Brant Bailey, are considered excellent "buys" by Lemanis.
Assistant at the Townsville Crocodiles for the past seven years, Lemanis has great empathy with his players and promotes an up-tempo attacking game with an emphasis on scoring points.
"We'll be nothing if not exciting," Lemanis said.
- NZPA
