New Zealand Breakers v Melbourne Tigers
Where and When: Thursday 8 October, North Shore Events Centre, 7pm (local)
Pre-Season
Breakers: 4-1
Tigers: 7-3
Season So Far
Breakers: 1-2
Tigers: 1-0
Past Three Head-to Head
Melbourne Tigers 86-81 New Zealand Breakers, Round 2, 2009
New Zealand Breakers 97-103 Melbourne Tigers, Semi-Finals Game 2, 2009
Melbourne Tigers 117-99 New Zealand Breakers, Semi-Finals Game 1, 2009
Season Series
Melbourne Tigers 1-0 New Zealand Breakers
Current Standings
Breakers: 7th
Tigers: 1st
After starting the season with an ominous win over Cairns, New Zealand has fallen into a mini rut with consecutive losses to Melbourne and Adelaide.
The Breakers' deadly three-point radar, which saw them make an amazing 18 of 31 shots from beyond the arc in Round 1, has been terribly off the mark since.
In fact, New Zealand has only been able to sink 19 baskets out of a combined 58 attempts in its past two matches from three-point land.
Kirk Penney has been the most consistent Breaker so far in this campaign but the output of his star team-mates hasn't been as reliable.
While Penney has averaged 22 points a match to date, he also leads his team in assists (12).
Coach Andrej Lemanis knows that is an unhealthy reliance on one player, especially for such a strong side, and he will be demanding a lift from the rest of his line-up in the lead-up to this battle of the heavyweights.
Melbourne, on the other hand, couldn't have asked for a better start to the season.
The Tigers opened up the year with a fantastic against-the-odds 86-81 win over title favourite New Zealand.
Boom recruit Mark Worthington shrugged off an interrupted pre-season to have an instant impact for his new team with a match-winning 17 points and nine rebounds.
And the reigning championship captain had his helpers with Luke Kendall (14 points), Darryl Corletto (13) and Nathan Crosswell (13) all chiming in beautifully.
The result saw Melbourne extend its winning streak over the Breakers to five matches - including last season's semi-final series.
This fact alone will be enough to motivate the Breakers to seek redemption on Thursday night and if the likes of CJ Bruton, Rick Rickert and Tony Ronaldson can join Penney in putting on a show for their home fans, then the Tigers will find it tough to register their sixth win on the trot against the Breakers.
Worthington, Kendall, Corletto and Sam Mackinnon will need to be at the top of their games to ensure the Tigers' start to the season remains undefeated but it would be a brave punter to suggest that New Zealand will suffer a third-straight loss.
The loss of Crosswell due to a toe injury will also stretch Melbourne's depth.
Sportal Tip: Breakers by 7