KEY POINTS:
SYDNEY - New Zealand Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis hopes his team's size advantage can help them bully their way clear of a poor away record this weekend.
The Breakers begin a big Melbourne double-header today, first against the South Melbourne Dragons, who are ranked one place below them on the Australian National Basketball League ladder and are the team they beat at home in round one.
Both sides are on the cusp of the top-eight playoffs, the Breakers still eighth despite back-to-back away losses to Perth and Singapore, while the Dragons are ninth after dual away losses of their own in Townsville and Cairns.
The Breakers should go in as underdogs after a marathon trip during which they have flown Auckland-Perth-Singapore-Melbourne in the space of a week.
Sleepy starts finished their chances in those two matches but Lemanis said his big men would hold the key in Melbourne. "The height advantage is a key for us. We'll just pound the ball inside and see how they deal with it."
Centre Ben Pepper and power forward Carlos Powell will again be the key men after leading the Breakers home in the 112-106 win in Auckland in September.
Pepper scored 17 points and claimed 11 rebounds while American import Powell, as he's done so often this season, led the way with 34 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
It's the Breakers' outside game that's causing some concern, with point guard Paul Henare, Aaron Olson and three-point specialist Oscar Forman not combining smoothly.
But Lemanis backed his little men to match up well with the Dragons, including former Australian point-guard Shane Heal as player-coach, as the hosts try to play it up-tempo.
The biggest worry for Lemanis, as throughout his two seasons in charge, is snapping the Breakers out of their poor form away from home.
Wednesday's 94-111 loss to Singapore was their sixth from seven away matches this season, to go with a 3-13 record on the road last year.
"There's no magic formula. We can talk about it all we like but we've just got to make the right decisions and cut down the loose turnovers.
"In our last two [matches] we haven't turned up ready to go in the first quarter. We've been too sluggish and made poor decisions."
Lemanis stressed it was too early to panic, with still 16 matches left in the regular season and the Breakers still well in playoff contention.
Heal meanwhile admitted his team faced D-day against the Auckland-based side.
"Where we're at right now is that we're an average team and this can go two ways. We can limp along and miss the playoffs or we can dig in deep and make a stand."
Tomorrow the Breakers will face the table-topping Melbourne Tigers, who are on a five-match winning streak and have won 11 of their 15 games this season.
- NZPA
