KEY POINTS:
Former New Zealand Breakers captain Paul Henare returns from compassionate leave as the Australian National Basketball Leagu leaders bid to compound the Cairns Taipans' woes here tomorrow night.
Henare, a foundation member of the franchise, has been absent since the opening round win over the Wollongong Hawks, the Tall Blacks point guard being given time out to tend to his five-year-old son after he was injured when struck by a lawnmower.
While the Breakers have constructed their best ever start to a season in his absence, Henare's reappearance is timely as head coach Andrej Lemanis seek to lessen the workload of star recruit CJ Bruton.
The designated back-up point guard, Henare can expect to log some serious minutes when the unbeaten Breakers seek their fourth successive victory against a depleted Taipans side at North Shore Events Centre.
"It's good to get anyone in your team back in, you want to go in with all your arsenal and when people are missing it affects rotations a little bit," Lemanis said.
With Henare restored, the onus is no longer on former Tall Black Phill Jones to fill the position when Bruton is spelled.
"Phill Jones has come in but it's not his natural spot. It also gives us the opportunity to play Pauly and CJ at the same time to give us some versatility."
Veteran forward Tony Ronaldson said the importance of Henare's return could not be underestimated.
"The last two games we've played you can really see where Pauly fits into the mould. He can come in and give CJ a bit more of a break.
"CJ has logged 45 minutes in the last couple of games purely because we haven't had that strength in the point guard position."
The Breakers are warm favourites to continue making the most of their home court advantage against a side who have lost two successive games - as well as their experienced forward Martin Cattalini.
The double Olympian was suspended for one match after failing a breath test when driving through Cairns last Saturday morning,
Cairns opened the season with consecutive wins but have dropped their last two, including a 77-101 loss to the Melbourne Tigers last Friday.
The Taipans landed a miserable 28-of-84 from the field at 33 per cent against the Tigers and will need to sharpen up to prevent a blowout tomorrow.
Despite their on and off court issues Lemanis insisted Cairns would not be taken lightly.
"They've got a very talented team, they run deep. They have an interesting group, they can give you different looks," he said.
"They can try to overpower you with size or go small and go quick up and down the court."
While the ANBL's only unbeaten team appear to be ticking along nicely, Lemanis said there was no room for complacency - and scope for improvement.
"Boxing out was an issue for us last week (against the Adelaide 36ers), it's an area we have to pick up on because Cairns are one of the better offensive rebounding teams.
"Our defensive transition was better against Adelaide but there's still room for improvement."
Taipans coach Alan Black will look to the likes of Gary Boodnikoff and Aaron Grabau to step up in Cattalini's absence while usually freescoring guard Stephen Black needs more openings after shooting the ball just five times against the Tigers.
- NZPA
