Basketball: Five steps to greatness

Kirk Penney. Photo / Getty Images

Five things the Breakers need to do to become the first New Zealand team to win an Australian competition.

ONE: GET INTENSE

It's often said defence wins championships and this is one area the Breakers need to improve. They might be able to out-shoot any side in the league but, in recent times, they have often been out-rebounded, unacceptable at the defensive end, and allowed players to penetrate on the dribble.

These were things they did well earlier in the season when they won 10 of their first 12 games. The Breakers are a short side, except for Alex Pledger who sees just 11 minutes of action a game, and rely heavily on Mika Vukona on the boards. He does a great job, pulling down 7.7 rebounds a game (fourth in the league), but needs help. Tom Abercrombie has a great vertical leap and Dillon Boucher is a good competitor but more is needed from American Gary Wilkinson who needs to get his 2.04m, 113kg frame under the rim for some of the nasty stuff.

TWO: WIN AT HOME

If the Breakers win all of their home games, they will win the championship. As top qualifiers for the playoffs, the Breakers get home court advantage. That means they play two of the three playoffs games (if three are needed) at the North Shore Events Centre for both the semifinal and final should they make it.

They have a good home record so far this season, with 12 wins and two losses and can also point to an excellent 9-4 winning record on the road before last night's visit to Melbourne. Teams don't like coming to Auckland. The NSEC isn't big but 4500 fans make sure it's one of the most boisterous and it can influence referees.

THREE: PENNEY DROPS

Kirk Penney might have started the year in uncertain fashion - he missed five of the first six games as he tried to find an NBA contract before then heading to Italy for his brother's wedding - but has ended it emphatically. The 30-year-old shooting guard leads the league in points per game (20.5) and has four times been the NBL's Player of the Week. He is deadly from outside the three-point arc (his 43.4 per cent success rate is third best in the league for players who average more than 10 points a game). He will be among the contenders to pick up his second MVP award after his impressive form in 2008/09.

The Breakers are stacked full of shooting talent - CJ Bruton, Abercrombie, Wilkinson, Kevin Braswell - but Penney is the best. This was exemplified by his 35-point haul in February's 123-115 double overtime win over the Gold Coast.

FOUR: THE CLOSER

A closer is one of the most important players in a baseball team. They are the pitcher entrusted with closing out the win near the end of the match when things are tight. It's something Kevin Braswell did so well on a basketball court earlier in the season. He would often get limited minutes in the first half of the game as Paul Henare ran the show from the point before coming on to control things as the clock wound down. He could also influence a game with his scoring - he averaged 13 points a game in the first half of the season and scored 32 points in a 96-79 defeat by Townsville when he drained eight of 13 three-pointers.

But Braswell's form dropped off. It's not all about scoring points, especially with so many shooters in the side, but his numbers dropped markedly and he has averaged eight points a game since the New Year and has committed too many turnovers. He showed signs of a revival against Adelaide midweek but he will need to produce more of the same in the really important games.

He's an import and, with that, comes responsibility. The club want him back next season - now he needs to prove he's worthy of it.

FIVE: DO IT FOR PAULI

It would be fitting to send Paul Henare out with a championship title. Henare, Pauli to his team-mates, is retiring at the end of the season to take over as Bay Hawks coach - meaning the club are losing their last foundation player. Dillon Boucher and Vukona were there at the beginning in 2003 but both have returned after stints away.

It has not been an easy time for Henare. The 32-year-old has endured the worst of times, when the Breakers have propped up the bottom of the table, sacked coaches, played in front of half-empty stadiums and had public spats. He has also been pilloried for his lack of scoring threat. He's not that sort of player - he averages 2.6 points a game this season and 5.4 across his NBL career. He's a team man who inspires through effort and words. He played his first 130 games in succession and has missed only seven in his long career (he's played the last 86). That's just part of why he's expected to become the first Breakers player to have his number retired (32).