Slam dunk: Confidence grows as Breakers look to extend winning run

By PETER JESSUP

Breakers trainings have been intense on-court and relaxed around it this week and coach Frank Arsego feels the team is in the right frame of mind to go on with its winning break.

The two away wins were great reward for their effort during some hard weeks and there was no doubt they had added confidence to the team, Arsego said.

"The things learned in practice were put into practise and they worked. That creates belief and so now they're feeling more comfortable about what they're doing," he said.

"There's been a great attitude at work and that's gone a long way to lifting the team. Mike Chappell coming in helped, there were a lot of ingredients to those wins. Now we look forward to another test this weekend."

They play the Melbourne Tigers on Friday and the Victoria Giants on Saturday.

Tigers' veteran Andrew Gaze was this week voted MVP for the 25-year history of the competition as the league marks its quarter-century this season. Sydney Kings and Australia coach Brian Goorjian was voted coach of the period.

The fourth-placed Tigers will be lifted by Gaze's honour. Both teams go into the game with no injury worries, the Breakers given today off but the same 10 players to travel: Per Cameron (c), Mike Chappell, Ben Melmeth, Phill Jones, Paul Henare, Iona Enosa, Blake Truslove, Dillon Boucher, Aaron Olson and Paora Winitana.

The Breakers host Melbourne next Wednesday and are then away to Perth. Arsego said the results in December would determine their season.

"We've effectively shortened our season to the month of December. If we're going to go anywhere we have to get more results, we have to develop some consistency. By the end of this month we'll know exactly where we're at."

* * *

The domestic league will start and finish early and include more mid-week games to ensure a finish that allows the Tall Blacks to prepare for the Athens Olympics.

The league tips off on March 12 with the Otago Nuggets hosting Hawkes Bay and the Nelson Giants going to Taranaki.

The action gets more intense the following night when former champions Nelson and Waikato meet in Hamilton and Auckland plays North Harbour.

The Stars are going back to the ASB Stadium, the franchise management believing the move from Unitec to the base during the 1990s will result in increased crowds.

The Stars have re-singed all of their 2003 team for the 2004 NBL, bar forward Daryl Cartwright who is testing the waters elsewhere.

American Casey Frank, cut from the Breakers, is definitely sticking around for the Stars as their import, after taking a holiday. Tall Blacks Aaron Olson and Mike Homik are also confirmed. Promising youngster Daniel Barritt returns after knee reconstruction that kept him out of the 2003 season.

Coach Kenny Stone said the stability gave them hope for a solid run in the finals next year. Stone is reviewing candidates for assistant coach.

* * *

Sport Auckland is backing a new board that will aim to take basketball to a new level in the region. Seven directors are being sought, not all of them needing experience in the game because general sports knowledge and business nous is also considered a plus, for terms of from one to three years.

The board will have the role of promoting the game at all levels from mine-ball to the Stars and beyond.

* * *

Tall Black and Cairns Taipans centre Tony Rampton was named NBL player of the week after his game-high and career-high 30 points in the Taipans' 110-107 win over the Adelaide 36ers. His previous best was 17.

Rampton made 65 per cent of his shots to help the Taipans to a 7-7 record and sixth place in the league.

* * *

The Hawks have re-signed all their 2003 team but will have a new head coach.

Shawn Dennis, who played for Newcastle for nine years and Hobart for one and then coached at both Newcastle and Wollongong, has seen last season's tapes and is excited at the prospect.

The 38-year-old will be assisted by 2003 coach Kirsten Daly, who is taking a year off from her day job as assistant principal at Taradale High School to concentrate on basketball, with the Tall Ferns assistant coaching job also expected to demand time in an Olympic year.

* * *

Former Saints coach Brian Powell has been appointed by BBNZ to oversee the elite performance programme, player, coach and referee development and the national competitions. Powell was assistant coach at Hutt Valley last season.