Three familiar faces to New Zealand basketball fans will be hoping their team can counter an expected Breakers backlash on Thursday night.
Former Breakers Pero Cameron, Casey Frank and Ben Melmeth will be on the Gold Coast Blaze team which visits North Shore Events Centre a week after the Breakers succumbed meekly to the Cairns Taipans.
Cameron and Frank, both Tall Blacks, and Melmeth, an Australian international, were all in the Breakers when they made their Australian National Basketball League debut in 2003-04.
Melmeth lasted one season with the Breakers before heading away, playing with two other clubs before joining the Blaze in their inaugural season last year.
Cameron and Frank both played two seasons for the Breakers - though Frank's stints were broken up by a year off.
Both also hooked up last season with the Blaze, who made the playoffs.
They play for a Blaze team which is in some difficulty, having lost all five of their matches and have the lowest points average in the league.
By contrast, the Breakers are top of the league on points differential percentage despite last week's loss.
Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis was disappointed with his team's defence against the Taipans, who outmuscled the home team and put on 122 points against them.
"I spoke to the guys about how when we get a little cold offensively, is our defence good enough to hold sway, and that result would suggest we still have some work to do."
Breakers guard Phill Jones said the Blaze may well feel the fury of a team determined to redeem themselves after the Taipans match.
Breakers' back-up forward Adam Tanner will again be missing due to concerns about his recovering calf injury.
Back-up centre Tim Behrendorff was expected to face a fitness test tomorrow to determine how his ankle injury is progressing. Behrendorff had only a few minutes on court against the Taipans.
Adding to the Blaze's woes, veteran forward Scott McGregor has a strained calf and Juaquin Hawkins will play with a painful bone spur on his heel.
Blaze coach Brendan Joyce said his players needed to work on improving their games as individuals as they appeared to lack confidence when the chips were down.
"(The players) need to evaluate their own game and work on ways they can help the team be successful," he said on the Blaze's website.
"All you can do is take care of what you can control, analysing where you need to improve and working hard to get the results," Joyce said.
In addition to Cameron, Frank and Melmeth, the Blaze field top shooters in captain James Harvey and firebrand point guard Shane Heal so they do not lack talent.
Thursday nights match is the last of a five-game home run which opened the Breakers' season. They play two games in Queensland next week, against the Taipans and the Blaze.
