Basketball: Lemanis hopes Breakers have right mindset

The Breakers are striving to maintain an enviable home record against the Hunter Pirates in today's rumble at Trusts Stadium.

The Breakers have lost only once at home to the Pirates and triumphed 112-94 on home court in round three when a good performance had six Breakers in double figures.

Their overall record against Hunter is played eight, won five, lost three. But the Australian outfit have the edge this season, lying 8th on the league ladder with an 11-win, 13-loss record compared with the Breakers' five wins and 17 defeats.

The Hunters, who joined the NBL in the same year as the Breakers, have won four of 12 away from home this season. Pirates import Mike Helms looms as a major threat, averaging 22.5 points per game (the second highest in the league this season). Former Breaker Ben Melmeth is also having a good year for the Pirates, averaging 13 points and 8 rebounds per game.

Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis has plenty of respect for the visitors. "They are a talented squad," he said. "They seem to have the mix of players right. Their bigs are good rebounders, but they can shoot the lights out from the exterior, too.

"We have to be disruptive on defence and try to make them play jungle ball rather than execute their set plays, something they do very well.

"Once again, it's another good challenge for us.

"Obviously were concentrating on defence and setting a tone for the rest of our game.

"It's a case of being aggressive and trying to dictate terms."

The Breakers have won three in a row only once and Lemanis is wary of being too confident of a repeat.

"The last two times we've gone into games as favourites we've bombed, so we've been working hard on the mental side of our game.

"We've talked about the process, not the result.

"We have to prepare well, execute our plays and disrupt what they're trying to do. If we can do those things, we'll be in the hunt.


Season statistics:
* 5 wins 17 losses for the Breakers
* 11 wins 13 losses for the Pirates

- NZPA