KEY POINTS:
After apparently recovering from a shaky start to the year, it is steady as she goes inside the New Zealand Breakers camp this week as they prepare to host an Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) play-off for the first time.
The Breakers might have fashioned a three-win 10-loss record in 2009 but they retain enough confidence in themselves - and their systems - ahead of tomorrow night's sudden-death quarter-final against the Adelaide 36ers at the North Shore Events Centre.
Although the South Australians claimed their three-match series 2-1 with a stirring 102-91 victory at home on February 7, there is still reason for optimism among the Breakers as they seek to advance to a best-of-three semifinal with the resting Melbourne Tigers.
The 36ers have an unhappy away record this season, recording just three wins to 12 losses. This is also the franchise's first play-off match for two years, and they have not won one since 2003.
Adelaide, thumped by a record 38 points on their first visit to Auckland in October, surprisingly bounced back to win by 10 points on the return visit before marking veteran captain Brett Maher's final appearance on the home court now named in his honour in appropriate fashion.
However, the Breakers were missing key personnel that night, including top scorer Kirk Penney, the league's most prolific shooter with an average of 24.8 points per game.
It is the Breakers' second post-season campaign - last year they beat Cairns but lost to Brisbane. Coach Andrej Lemanis and seasoned pro Tony Ronaldson said the team had trained as normal this week, and were well aware of the historical significance of a contest with the sixth and lowest qualifier.
"The guys are pretty proud to host a play-off," Lemanis said.
"You don't get an opportunity to be a part of history that often and the sudden death element adds a little spice to it," he said.
"But the way you play really doesn't change. It's a game of basketball and it's about executing the fundamentals that make our team successful.
"The biggest thing for us was getting 100 per cent healthy, which we haven't been since December."
The crucial return from the casualty ward was first-time Breaker CJ Bruton, the influential point guard who has won titles with Sydney (2004-05) and Brisbane (2007).
Bruton missed the start of the year with an ankle injury, his absence coinciding with the Breakers' worrying slump.
However, the swagger has returned, with the Breakers entering unchartered territory with wins over the Cairns Taipans and Sydney Spirit.
"During the last couple of months there's been frustration but there's never been a lack of confidence," Lemanis said.
"We've always firmly believed in each other, that's one of the advantages of having experienced guys in the camp, they understand that there is a roller coaster during the season and you've got to ride the highs and the lows."
Ronaldson, the NBL's longest-serving player with 634 games since 1990, said a roster containing the quality of Bruton, Penney plus former Tall Blacks internationals Dillon Boucher and Phill Jones were well equipped to handle the heat.
"The guys who will influence the game have been around and know what's going on," he said.
"We've played the NBA, in Europe, at the Olympics."
Meanwhile, the old heads have not had to take the relative rookies under their wing, with Ronaldson distancing himself from a mentoring role for the likes of swingman Thomas Abercrombie and back-up guard Corey Webster.
"I think the young guys pretty much think they know it all," Ronaldson said.
"They've never sought any advice. Someone like Tom (Abercrombie), who you'd say was inexperienced - he's still played in the American college system with Washington State. Corey has toured with the Tall Blacks."
- NZPA
