Breakers stars Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Karim Lopez did not take part in training on Wednesday. Photo: Photosport
The depleted NZ Breakers are short on time and fit players.
The end of the ANBL season is quickly approaching - with four regular season games to play - and after the club's sole training session of the week on the eve of Thursday's home game against South East Melbourne Phoenix, coach Petteri Koponen had resorted to relying on hope.
He had just held a session without star import guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright who was not at the club's headquarters due to illness, as blossoming Next Star Karim Lopez sat out with a strapped lower right leg, back up point guard Alex McNaught took a blow to his hand late in the scrimmage and Sam Mennenga, Rob Baker and Izayah Le'Afa were only at the practice court as observers after their own season-ending injuries.
"I just hope we've got some of the guys ready to go and they will be there... I'd be much happier if [the injured players] were with the group," Koponen said about what could be an under-manned roster for the upcoming two games in three days.
"It's a difficult moment but we have to have that next man up mentality and no excuses."
Koponen often put a positive spin on the situations the Breakers found themselves in during the season but it was obvious things out his control were playing on his mind.
Travel and double-header weekends had limited the Breakers' opportunities to spend time on the practice court in the last few weeks.
After winning at home last Friday against Melbourne United, a trip to Tasmania ended in a potentially season-defining two-point loss to the JackJumpers on Sunday.
Needing to get on winning streak to have any outside chance of making an appearance in the post-season, Koponen was wary of the team being under-prepared.
Koponen said the JackJumpers game was an example of what could happen when training opportunities were stymied by the schedule.
"We couldn't prepare and some of the things in the game looked exactly like that.
"I told the group 'when you are not perfect and you're not feeling great how do you respond' and Rob Loe with his 27 minutes on Friday and 27 minutes on Sunday he showed if he can do it everybody else can.
"I think especially for our younger players it's a great learning experience because maybe they haven't been there too much yet in their careers but when you are tired you have to do the little things with even more focus and also mentally get your mind ready and your body ready to fight."
Koponen characterised the performance against the JackJumpers as "flat" - something he wanted the players to avoid with a game against the Illawarra Hawks coming less than 48 hours after the game against the Phoenix on the North Shore is over.
Import shooting guard Izaiah Brockington said the game against the JackJumpers would not be moved on from easily.
"That loss definitely hurt because of the play-off implications so we definitely felt it but we're at the point in the season where it didn't completely derail our chances so we're on to the next one," Brockington said.
The next challenge was against a Phoenix side that had won nine of their last 12 games and beaten the Breakers three times this season.
Brockington did not think the Phoenix would show them anything they had not seen before but he had heard Koponen's message about being "mentally sharp".
"Our biggest challenge is just going to be on the defensive end. They've been scoring really well for the past few games so our main thing is just figuring out how we get stops and turn those stops into points.
"We feel like they pressure a lot but we saw a few openings last game where they were over helping or they were a little wild but we've just got to stop them from getting threes, getting offensive rebounds, getting whatever they want on that end."
Brockington might be one of the few Breakers players feeling fit and healthy at the back end of a season that started in September but he still saw the benefit of his hobbled team mates, Baker, Mennenga and Le'Afa, offering their insights.
"Those guys watch the game on TV so we get to hear what they saw and their perspectives of each game so it's definitely been good having them around."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
