Basketball: Breakers face must-win game without big centre Rickert

Rick Rickert (left) suffered an ankle injury in last Wednesday's victory over Townsville. Photo / Daily Post

The Breakers will almost certainly be without centre Rick Rickert for tonight's must-win North Shore encounter with Wollongong.

The loss of their premier big man from an ankle injury suffered in last Wednesday's victory over Townsville is a blow for the Breakers, whose playoff hopes will all but disappear should they fail to end this season's winless streak against the Hawks.

Tony Ronaldson will start in Rickert's place.

The Breakers have coughed up handy leads in all three previous encounters with the Hawks - the defeats a big part of why they are now scrapping for survival instead of sitting pretty in a playoff spot.

They are far from dead, however, but the fate of the Breakers (12-13) is no longer in their own hands.

Leaders Perth (15-9) had a chance to confirm their playoff spot against Cairns overnight, but below the Wildcats a four-way dogfight is shaping up for the final three playoff berths.

Second-placed Gold Coast (14-10) can secure their spot with two wins from their remaining four matches. But with one home assignment against Perth followed by three away matches, even the Blaze will not be resting easy.

The Breakers need to win all three remaining matches and hope the other contenders fall apart or that a series of tie-breakers fall their way.

Their most obvious route to the playoffs is to leapfrog the fourth-placed Hawks (13-11). But with the Hawks already holding the head-to-head tiebreaker courtesy of their three wins so far, that may not be easy.

A Breakers victory tonight would close the gap, but the Hawks could still snooker the Breakers by winning two of their remaining three matches.

If both teams finished alone at 15-13, the Hawks would go through.

The Breakers' best hope seems to be for either the Crocs (14-11) or the Blaze to drop games on the run in and fall either below them or into a multi-way tie.

The Breakers hold the tiebreak over the Crocs thanks to a 3-1 season mark, while the tiebreak with the Blaze will be determined next Thursday when the teams meet on the North Shore.

All of this, of course, becomes somewhat academic if the Breakers drop the ball against the Hawks again tonight.

"There is nothing you can do about the other games, the only thing we can control is how we play tonight," coach Andrej Lemanis said.

"Everyone wants to be in the playoffs and that is certainly what we are playing for. But it is a case of just getting back to one game at a time, and the most important thing right now is coming out and playing [tonight]."

Riding a season-best, three-game win streak that includes impressive road successes against the Gold Coast and Townsville, the Breakers were full of confidence, Lemanis said.

"The group has always remained positive and committed to the cause even while those around us may have been sticking the boot in. The team itself hasn't lost focus; it has just kept working harder to turn some of those results around."

The Breakers also received positive news on injured swingman Tom Abercrombie, who has trained fully this week and should play.

With MVP-candidate point guard Tywain McKee gone for the season with a back injury, Wollongong are not the same side who ran down the Breakers 93-91 in Auckland in early December.

McKee's 29 points were instrumental in that victory, but Lemanis remains wary of the early-season league leaders despite the loss of their standout import.

"Even without him they have shown they are a good team."

FOUR INTO THREE

GOLD COAST

Currently: 2nd
Record: 14-10
Remaining: v Perth (h), v Breakers (a), v Wollongong (a), v Melbourne (a)
Best possible record: 18-10
Worst possible record: 14-14

TOWNSVILLE

Currently: 3rd
Record: 14-11
Remaining: v Cairns (h), v Perth (a), v Adelaide (h)
Best possible record: 17-11
Worst possible record: 14-14

WOLLONGONG

Currently: 4th
Record: 13-11
Remaining: v Breakers (a), v Gold Coast (h), v Melbourne (h), v Adelaide (a)
Best possible record: 17-11
Worst possible record: 13-15

BREAKERS

Currently: 5th
Record: 12-13
Remaining: v Wollongong (h), v Gold Coast (h), v Cairns (a)
Best possible record: 15-13
Worst possible record: 12-16