Basketball: Breakers learn how to put boot in when it's most needed

Rest easy everyone. If ever the Breakers need to wake up at 2am and play in the pitch black amid small-arms fire, they should be ready for it.

The team, who start their Aussie NBL season on Tuesday week, have spent their last free weekend for some time in an Army boot camp on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, undergoing various forms of torture in the name of character development.

Fresh from their double-header in Sydney last week, the New Zealand franchise were put through their paces by Army and Navy personnel and, from all accounts, are now well-versed on everything from survival techniques to counter-espionage.

More importantly though, coach Andrej Lemanis reckons the side are looking handy for next week's showdown with Melbourne expansion team, the South Dragons.

"I've been pleased with our progress," he said. "We've really made some big strides and especially in the past fortnight.

"The biggest improvement has been our defence but, in general terms, the way all the players are gelling and supporting the team philosophy is probably the most pleasing aspect."

The Breakers upset all predictions with a win against the Kings last Wednesday before being pipped by West Sydney the next evening, in what Lemanis described as a challenge in the face of adversity.

Not only did the Breakers have to play on consecutive nights, they also needed to change hotels during the second-game day and were then stuck in Sydney's peak-hour traffic on the way to the stadium.

Lemanis said the boot camp was just another way of reminding the players of the value of their combined worth.

"It was all the good team building stuff," he said. "Lugging things around, working as a team, problem solving, brain storming.

"Having to find our food, pitch a tent, stay warm. Wake-ups at 2am, explosions going off all around us - it was a really useful time."

Heading towards the start of their fourth season in the ANBL, the Breakers have now had six warm-up games against various opponents, with just last Wednesday's win against the Kings to show for it.

However, Lemanis said the pre-season was all about getting in the best possible shape for September 26 and he was more interested in the pattern and trend of performance than the results.

The Breakers started guard Aaron Olson ahead of forward Oscar Forman in both games last week and Lemanis said he was left feeling encouraged by the different options available.

"I saw some really good versatility against the Sydney teams, who have smaller line-ups and tend to fly around a bit," he said.

"We found we could match that and go small when we needed to and we already know we can go big - so it's good to have those options firing."

While Olson aquitted himself well in both outings, Forman was a revelation in the game against West Sydney, sinking five from six three-pointers in what Lemanis described as an "outstanding" shooting effort.

Lemanis also disclosed that after the win over the Kings, skipper Paul Henare apologised to his team-mates for some uncharacteristic mistakes in the final quarter, when the Kings launched a ferocious counter-attack.

"Paul had just struggled a bit on the decision-making at times and, to his credit, he put his hand up afterwards and said he accepted it wasn't good enough.

"I thought it was great in terms of leading by example. It's not just about having a follow-me attitude, it's also about accepting responsibility."