Lemanis backs Breakers to win
April 03, 2012 15:15:56 UK
The New Zealand Breakers have upped their tempo as they try to keep their season alive by defeating NBL semi-finals opponents the Townsville Crocodiles.
The second game of their best-of-three series takes place on Thursday.
Despite the fact that the Breakers had the best record in the regular season, they dropped the first game of the series 99-82 at home, which means that they must win Thursday's match, if they are to avoid elimination.
On Wednesday, Gold Coast will lock horns with Perth in Game 2 of their semi-final. The Blaze are 2.00 to defeat the Wildcats, who are 1.72 to emerge victorious.
The Crocodiles have a highly impressive record at their home arena, which is known as "The Swamp", and that makes the Breakers' task of levelling the series an even more difficult job.
The Kiwi club's coach Andrej Lemanis said: "As a team we're probably a little embarrassed at how we played on Friday night. In some ways the strange thing is that's the good news, because we can fix that and certainly come out and play with a much greater intensity on Thursday night."
The Breakers boss believes that his team's energy and intensity levels were down in Game 1 but has assured everyone that they have solved those problems in training and will fare much better in Thursday's game.
"For us going forwards in a play-off series, you need to come out, you need to practice well and you need to play hard and it is a good day," Lemanis added.
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