Basketball: Breakers in right mood to impress new coach

The New Zealand Breakers secured the second win on their tour of China yesterday by beating fellow Australian league side Melbourne Tigers 110-85.

Aaron Olson led the scoring for the Breakers with 22 points while Chris King contributed 19 and Lindsay Tait 18.

The Breakers led at every adjournment, including 59-50 at halftime.

Head coach Andrej Lemanis was pleased how his team approached the game, playing hard defensively and Olson and Tait leading the fast break.

"We had six players in double figures which was pleasing," he said.

The Breakers' forward line of Blake Truslove, American import King, Clifton Bush and Townsville's Greg Vanderjagt combined for 54 points.

The Breakers next play Chinese side Liaoning.

The tour has been a positive for the embattled club which endured a messy separation with talisman Pero Cameron last week. New coach Lemanis, who took over from Frank Arsego, must have wondered what he had signed himself up for, but will be feeling more upbeat now.

In their first outing they beat Jiangsu Dragons, the runners up in the Chinese national league, 99-78.

The Dragons were without their US import players and several members of their squad who are with the Chinese national team.

"With only one practice session under their belt, the boys came out and played well," assistant coach Wayne Brown said.

"Aaron Olson and Lindsay Tait had solid games. Lindsay got to the hoop and Aaron shot the ball very well.

"Jiangsu are not the tallest of teams, so Blake Truslove, Clifton Bush and Chris King were able to control the boards and get our running game going," Brown added.

The Breakers are using the tour to assess several players, including US imports, point guard Robbie Reid and King, plus Canada-based New Zealander Brent Charleton.

Meanwhile, the Breakers will be tipping off the new NBL season even earlier than normal after league bosses agreed to give national teams as much time as possible to prepare for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

The season is set to begin on September 2 and will also feature far fewer midweek games, where crowds were smaller.

- NZPA