Marc Hinton - Stuff

If it ain't broken, it's certainly not working as it should be.

That's the NZ Breakers, the Australian NBL's minor premiers with some pretty major issues heading into playoff time.

The Breakers demonstrated that palpably again last night - for the umpteenth time in the last month or two - as they struggled to see off a severely undermanned Sydney Kings 91-86 at the NSEC.

Thank goodness for big Gary Wilkinson, the priceless Kirk Penney and Mr Energy Mika Vukona who were about the only three home players to show up with anything approximating their A games. Without the contributions from all three the Breakers would have been shot to pieces by the grittly little Kings outfit.

Wilkinson finished with a season high 28 points, Penney added a valuable 26 and Vukona also came up with his best scoring effort of the campaign with 16 big-time points.

But the Breakers made far too hard work of it against a Kings side missing three of its leading players, with Julian Khazzouh and Graeme Dann sitting this one out through injury and import Patrick Sanders sideline but unused.

With the Sydneysiders going mostly with a three-guard lineup and with their frontline consisting almost solely of impressive import Trey Gilder and the solid Ben Knight, the Breakers should have had a field day. That they didn't suggests strongly they have some serious issues to address heading into the playoffs.

The Breakers completed the season sweep of the Kings and halted a five-game losing streak against them at this venue, but their 11th home win of the season was close to their most unconvincing. For a 20-6 outfit who clinched the minor premiership with a month to spare, they sure do have the staggers.

The Breakers did nothing to ease concerns over their defensive softness by giving up 30 points to Gilder, 16 to point guard Luke Martin consisting mostly of uncontested layups and a pretty easy dozen for Knight whom they continued to leave open throughout.

It was a hot and cold first half from the Breakers who started horribly against the undermanned Kings, trailing 19-28 after the first quarter, only to steady a listing ship over the second period.

Vukona got the ball rolling for the Breakers as he attacked the rim with vigour and an 8-0 start soon had the deficit all but erased. At one stage the Breakers went on a 16-5 run to hit the lead and a strong quarter finished with Wilkinson and Penney making big shots to complete a 33-15 surge.

But then all that momentum was lost when the Breakers came out flat again for the third - a quarter they lost 23-16 - and allowed the Kings to close to within two heading into the final stanza.

From there it was pretty tense most of the way, the Breakers edging out by five inside the final two minutes, but the Kings continuing to make the easy shots to force a frantic final 30 seconds or so. The Breakers looked like they'd blown it when Penney was called for a dubious travel, but then Tom Abercrombie made a big defensive play, Mark Dickel was called for an unsportsmanlike foul on a dead-ball situation and the game was iced.

The Breakers now have a week off before finishing their season against the Adelaide 36erws (home) and Melbourne Tigers (away). That title continues to look a million miles away.

NZ Breakers 91 (Gary Wilkinson 28, Kirk Penney 26, Mika Vukona 16), Sydney Kings 86 (Trey Gilder 30, Luke Martin 18, Ben Knight 12). 1Q: 19-28; HT: 52-43; 3Q: 68-66.