Basketball: Pledger overcomes troublesome toe to boost Breakers' title hopes

Alex Pledger of the Breakers. Photo / Nick Reed

Lost in the understandable hype surrounding Cedric Jackson's half-court heroics against Perth was another performance even more encouraging for the Breakers' title chances.

Alex Pledger, limited all season by a nagging toe injury, enjoyed his best outing since the opening month of the campaign, playing 24 important minutes and contributing strongly at both ends of the court.

The Breakers asked their centre to step up in the double-overtime classic - considering three of the team's four bigs had fouled out by the conclusion - and Pledger's response to that call would have thrilled the club ahead of the post-season.

Chances are, Jackson won't be required to hit any more miracle shots in the next month. But, with tomorrow's game against Cairns at Vector Arena rounding out the regular season, Pledger will be needed to produce in the playoffs.

"It was fantastic," coach Dean Vickerman said of Pledger's efforts against Perth.

"His contributions were unbelievable - how he defended the on-ball, how he defended the post, coming up with rebounds in the middle of the pack. It was great to get him those minutes and have him recover pretty well."

A key part of Pledger's recovery was the two-week break he was afforded after a cortisone shot last month caused his foot to flare up.

The injection was actually on the ankle opposite to the troublesome toe, with a season spent favouring the damaged digit causing additional strain elsewhere, but the rest allowed both feet to heal.

"Those two weeks that I missed just helped settle [the toe] down to a more manageable level," Pledger said. "It wasn't planned but it became necessary because I couldn't really walk properly, let alone play basketball.

"Going into the home stretch, it's ended up working pretty well and hopefully it'll stay there for the rest of the season."

The Breakers are strongly stocked in the power forward and centre spots regardless of whether Pledger returns to the starting line-up or continues to come off the bench, with Ekene Ibekwe, Mika Vukona and Tai Wesley combining to punch above their respective heights.

But there is no doubting a seven-footer adds to any team's line-up, and Pledger's presence may be imperative against a big front-line like Adelaide's.

"Even though I've been restricted most of the season, I think all four of us have played our roles pretty well and produced pretty well," Pledger said. "We saw last season when I got hurt, if we hit foul trouble we were always down a big."