Kings 82
Breakers 69
If the Breakers were worried about their energy levels in last night's loss to Sydney, the right tonic will be arriving in Auckland on Thursday.
The Breakers and the Perth Wildcats will this week once more meet for a top-of-the-table encounter in the Australian NBL, with the clash coming after the rivalry was interrupted for a year by the Kiwi club's struggles.
Those struggles temporarily resurfaced in an ugly loss against the Kings on last night, a game in which the Breakers were plagued by poor shooting and a listless display in the effort areas.
But the Breakers (9-4) will be confident of regaining their urgency when the Wildcats (9-3) visit Vector Arena, the start of what assistant coach Paul Henare called a "huge week".
While they've done well to establish themselves at the front end of the competition, the Breakers are wary of a solitary setback becoming a more serious slide. After Perth comes to town, the Breakers will be in Melbourne on Sunday, a venue in which they suffered their worst loss of the season in round two.
That double-header marks the start of a hectic festive programme and Henare knows there is no better time for the Breakers to rediscover their energy.
"We've spoken about how Cairns had a great start, went 6-0 then lost three on the trot," Henare said. "We're in a similar situation -- we had a good run going, we've dropped one and we definitely don't want to drop another one or two.
"It's a big weekend for us, even though we take it one game at a time. We've got Perth then we go to Melbourne, which was a bit of a shocker for us earlier in the season. So it's a huge week for us and we must be desperate and urgent."
Those qualities were sorely lacking last night, when the Kings ran roughshod on the boards, winning that battle by 11 and taking 18 offensive rebounds. Led by Josh Childress, who pulled down 16 boards as part of a double-double, Sydney excelled in an area that's often the Breakers' domain.
Searching for an explanation for the slip in standards, Henare suggested his side might have been softened by the recent schedule, with the club enjoying the comforts of home while playing only once a week.
"We definitely won't accept it," he said. "Maybe we got a little bit comfortable and slipped with our processes in recovery and things like that. I'm not saying we did that but, after spending a month at home and getting back on the road, we need to get back on the horse and do what we've been doing well so far this year."
A healthy Tom Abercrombie will help in that task, with the swingman showing no effects of his recent quad injury. Alex Pledger, the injury concern, played a more reserved 10 minutes but Henare said that output was what the team anticipated receiving from their starting centre for the rest of the season.
Kings 82 (Madgen 21, Childress 16, Ellis 13)
Breakers 69 (Ibekwe 15, Abercrombie 13, Webster 11)
HT: 36-36