Basketball: Breakers believe lucky streak will last

A chance for the Breakers to reach the playoffs hangs on the outcome of one or two more games. Photo / Getty Images

It might just be a side effect of their five-game win streak, but the Breakers are convinced that fate will be kind to them when their season goes on the line in Cairns, Melbourne and maybe Adelaide tonight.

Having emerged from a blood and thunder encounter with Gold Coast on Thursday night with the dream still alive, the Breakers are now just 80 minutes - or maybe 120 minutes - of basketball away from securing an unlikely playoff berth.

Last night's match between Wollongong and Melbourne is the reason for the prevarication. A Melbourne win would mean the Breakers have two chances of getting through tonight. A Breakers win over Cairns coupled with either another Hawks loss in Adelaide or a Gold Coast loss in Melbourne would put them through.

But if the Hawks were triumphant last night, the Breakers will be down to their final chance, with only a Gold Coast slip-up letting them through.

Whether it be one chance or two, the Breakers have a funny feeling things will go their way.

"I am still expecting to play next week," said Tony Ronaldson, who will be playing the last game of his storied career if things don't go to script.

Coach Andrej Lemanis is equally optimistic. "I have been around the league long enough to know that something amazing always happens, the unexpected always happens," he said.

"If I'd said three weeks ago we'll win five in a row you guys [the media] wouldn't have believed me.

"We need to win and the cards will fall where they fall."

And that is pretty much the problem for the Breakers. The way they have played over their winning run, you'd back them to get home against the lowly Taipans.

But it's not quite so easy to have faith in Melbourne, the club in whose hands the Breakers' fate also rests.

The Breakers are hoping the Tigers are suitably motivated by the prospect of sending off retiring legends Chris Anstey and Sam Mackinnon with a win in their final home game.

"It would be nice if they send them off with a big hurrah," Ronaldson said.

"That would be fantastic. I think [Anstey] owes me that for getting him to where he is today."

Both the Tigers and Blaze could be feeling the pinch. The Blaze have had longer to recover but would have expended plenty of energy taking on the Breakers with just eight players on Thursday, while the Tigers are fronting up for a second match in the space of 24 hours.

If it is his final match, Ronaldson will be hoping for a less eventful evening than he endured on Thursday, when he was slapped with unsportsmanlike and technical fouls in an altercation with Mika Vukona.

"I've got to pull my head in and make sure that doesn't happen," he said. "I am out there for my experience and leadership and I didn't show that."

If the chips don't fall the Breakers' way, the inquest into how such a talented side could miss the playoffs will most certainly start.

With the arrival of import guard Kevin Braswell having sparked their winning streak, the decision to play the bulk of the season with just one import will be under the microscope.

Lemanis wasn't prepared to second guess that decision, at least not yet.

"Kevin was only cut 10 days before we picked him up," Lemanis said. "And there are also financial implications. Obviously when you have got money and it is for a shorter period of time you can get a better player."

For his part, Ronaldson is doing his best to enjoy the wild ride into the unknown.

"It is funny, when you play like we are at the moment it is so enjoyable but with the predicament we are in it is frustrating too. You can see the potential this team has. We have a good mix and a good chemistry going. Hopefully that doesn't end [tonight]."