Basketball: Breakers star in doubt for decider

The pain of Kirk Penney's back spasm might not be as bad as the pain of missing his club's shot at glory tomorrow in the NBL season finale against the Taipans at the North Shore Events Centre. Photo / Dean Purcell

Kirk Penney grimaced as he hobbled across the carpark to his car after training yesterday.

The discomfort on his face after suffering a back spasm will be mirrored by that of Breakers' fans on the eve of the biggest game in the club's history.

The official line on the star shooting guard is that he will play in tomorrow night's series-deciding third game of the NBL playoffs.

The expression on Penney's face - a mixture of pain and concern - told a slightly different story.

Penney has suffered back trouble before. The last time he went down with a spasm in training he missed nine games.

This time, he must be back to full fitness in just over 48 hours.

As today's training session is closed to the media - an adjustment made last night - the state of Penney's fitness won't be known for sure until game time.

Mid-way through yesterday's training session, Penney dropped to the floor and attempted some stretching exercises. He then departed for the treatment room, where he spent time in an ice bath before leaving without speaking to the media.

"He's tweaked his back a bit so you're going to be cautious at this time of season," said coach Andrej Lemanis.

"We got him straight off and got him some treatment so I think he's going to be all right."

Lemanis said the assessment he had been given by the club's medical staff was "just that it spasmed up a bit but that it's going to be all right".

Point guard Kevin Braswell said he was certain Penney would play tomorrow night, likening the situation to that of LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who has been in doubt for the NBA play-offs because of an ankle injury.

"He's our Kobe Bryant," Braswell said. "Kobe is day-to-day and Kirk Penney is day-to-day. I'm sure he'll play. He wants this just as much as anybody else on this team.

"This team has been built around him and this organisation backs him all the time. He would never sit out a game like this."

The injury concerns don't stop with Penney. Tom Abercrombie also sat out training with an ice pack strapped to his ankle and he was joined by Gary Wilkinson, who is still on light duties due to his bronchial illness.

Late in the session Alex Pledger's troublesome knee gave way leaving him sprawled on the court, although the big centre recovered well enough to complete training.

"It's not how you would want practice to be two days out but it's one of those things that you deal with all season," Lemanis said. "It's not like it's suddenly foreign to us and is shocking.

"That's the way sport is and every team deals with it. You just keep going forwards, it's no big deal."

But losing Penney, or having the proven game winner take the court with a debilitating injury, would be a big deal.

The Breakers may have won four of the five games Penney missed at the start of the season, when he was pursuing a contract with the San Antonio Spurs and attending his brother's wedding in Italy, but those games weren't grand finals.

"We played without him earlier in the season and the strength of our group has always been that each person comes in and contributes his piece of the puzzle," Lemanis said.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it but, again, we've always played 10-deep."

If Breakers fans want a positive omen, Bryant played in yesterday's crucial game five 106-90 play-off victory for the Lakers over the New Orleans Hornetts, scoring 19 points.

"I think everyone will find a way to be ready," Lemanis said, when asked if special measures such as pain-killing injections would be used to get his ailing players on the court.