The Kiwi club made it 3-0 on Thursday night at the North Shore Events Centre as they, eventually, despatched the winless Melbourne Tigers 84-79.

But it wasn't pretty from the New Zealanders as they struggled again to convert their pressure defence into significant stops and had to bounce back from ice-cold periods throughout a strangely off-key performance.

Perhaps it was the presence of the watching Kirk Penney who distracted his team-mates slightly, the Breakers star to return to active duty immediately after this match. Or maybe it was just that the Tigers, still winless in the new campaign, finally found a way to be effective with that big lineup of theirs, even if it was shorn one of their trio of seven-footers with Matt Burston a late withdrawal on the eve of the match.

Whatever, the Breakers will not have been happy with a performance that saw them shoot just 41 per cent from the floor (30/73 FG) and allow their visitors to slot an ultra-respectable 40 percent (32/64 FG). They scored just 33 second-half points, and had periods in the third and fourth quarters where they might have struggled to hit the sea from the pier.

In fact it may only have been three straight offensive rebounds late in the piece, with the Breakers clinging to an 82-79 lead, that enabled them to sneak out with the victory. Well, that and the game-high 25 points (8/16 FG, 7/13 3PT) and five rebounds posted by classy guard CJ Bruton who was the lone member of the home side to rise to a testing occasion.

His mates tended to drift in and out a bit. American big man Gary Wilkinson had 14 points (5/12 FG) and seven rebounds, centre Alex Pledger weighed in with 12 points (11 in the first half) and Tom Abercrombie (5/14 FG) had a busy match with 12 points, four boards and two blocks. Mika Vukona added seven points and eight boards. It was not, though, a chipper night for last week's hero, Kevin Braswell going one-for-nine from the field with just two points and six assists to go with five turnovers.

The Tigers were paced by import TJ Campbell with 18 points and with backcourt mate Eric Devendorf adding 16 it was a vastly improved effort by the Tigers guards. Big men Cameron Tragardh and Luke Nevill also created their share of issues and showed that there just may be some life in these tail-end Tigers yet.

Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis agreed that offensive rebounds had been crucial, especially in the final minute when Abercrombie and Wilkinson combined to create three straight bonus possessions that killed off the Tigers.

The Breakers picked up 15 offensive rebounds all told, 14 of them in the second half, as they outrebounded the visitors 37-32. "That showed a change of focus, effort and intensity level," said Lemanis. "We got on the glass which was good for us."

But Lemanis admitted it had been a win with plenty of imperfection.

"We had a lot of mental lapses at the offensive end, and had a dose of quick shot a little bit. It was one of those games where someone was always open, so it was just picking when to shoot and when not to.

"Defensively we had some lapses as well. We want to get up and gamble in the back court, but then we gambled in the front court as well. Then we tried to address that and stopped with the back-court pressure. We just didn't get it right.

"But we still managed to come away with a win which was pleasing." 

The Tigers, undermanned in a big way, had hung tough through the first 20 minutes, and coach Al Westover would not have been too distressed with the five-point deficit (46-51) they faced at halftime.

Melbourne actually led by a point (21-20) at the end of the first quarter and with their out-of-sorts guardline of Devendorf and Campbell combining for 21 first-half points the visitors gave a good account of themselves for a team chasing their first win this season.

The Breakers were tidy enough at the offensive end through the first half, led by Pledger's 11 points, but were again guilty of looseness on defence. Giving up 46 points to the league's worst scoring team was an indication their work in this area of the game is still a work in progress.

Bruton did bring up a notable feat midway through the third period when he drilled three straight triples - of seven all told -- to not only edge the Breakers out by eight (60-52) but become just the ninth player to hoist 1000 points for the club.

But a 16-1 run by the visitors late in the period, as their big men sprung to life, saw the Tigers take an unlikely 68-64 lead into the final break. Only a buzzer-beating trifecta from Corey Webster kept the Kiwi club as close as they were.

The Breakers soon erased the deficit early in the final period and from there it was tight pretty much to that exciting end when the small - or at least smaller -- guys came up with the rebounds when it mattered most.

The Breakers now have over a week to re-transition Penney back into their game as they prepare for a November 6 visit to the Gold Coast Blaze. There remains plenty of improvement in the Kiwis even if their record suggests they're travelling nicely.

NZ Breakers 84 (CJ Bruton 25, Gary Wilkinson 14, Tom Abercrombie 12, Alex Pledger 12), Melbourne Tigers 79 (TJ Campbell 18, Eric Devendorf 16, Cameron Tragardh 16, Luke Nevill 14). 1Q: 20-21; HT: 51-46; 3Q: 64-68