Breakers getting testy in leadup to Kings sellout

There was a flash of anger from Cedric Jackson at Breakers training yesterday as he took a big hit on one of his trademark slashes to the hoop.

"Man, what's that about?" growled the in-form American point guard. "It's a day before the game, man, we don't need that."

He limped off and applied ice to his pain, but within a few minutes the anger had passed, and Jackson was back in among it, banging bodies and talking trash as the Breakers put the finishing touches to another week's preparation ahead of tonight's historic ANBL game against the Sydney Kings at Auckland's Vector Arena.

By early yesterday afternoon more than 7250 tickets had been sold for the game, with just 730 left to go before the "House Full" signs come out.

It is set to smash, not just the Breakers' own attendance record (6900, also against the Kings at Vector last October) but the league's season-best of 7500 which Sydney drew at last weekend's nail-biting 70-71 loss to the Perth Wildcats.

And Jackson is a big part of why the 13-5 Breakers are the hottest ticket in town.

The 25-year-old lightning-quick guard sets the tone for the Breakers at both ends of the floor.

And defensively his quickness, anticipation and long arms make him a handful, either on or off the ball. He can also rebound like heck, and score when he has to.

Jackson leads the league in assists (6.4) and steals (2.6) and has been knocking so loudly on the door of the all-elusive triple-double that it seems only a matter of time before he makes the breakthrough.

Three times he has gone agonisingly close to achieving the rare feat of double-figures in points, rebounds and assists (he was one rebound off it in the round 13 win in Melbourne).

Even last week in the home romp over the Tigers he flirted with it en route to 10 points, 13 assists and five boards.

"I'm pretty sure it will happen soon," said Jackson yesterday when asked if he had set a goal to achieve the milestone.

"But I try not to think about it in games in case it deflects from what I need to be focusing on.

"I'm sure my coaches and team-mates are aware that if I'm that close again hopefully I'll be able to get it and achieve that milestone."

In the meantime it is business as usual as the defending champs work through another impressive regular season, with their winning streak set to stretch to four against a Kings side that has lost its last five against the Breakers.

Thus the competitiveness at training.

It has become a trademark of these Breakers, led by veteran guard CJ Bruton who chirps with the best of them whenever someone's keeping score.

They go hard at it against each other, and when the time comes to band together for that week's opposition they are ready for whatever is coming their way.

"We're all competitors, enemies on the court," said Jackson. "That's just setting a tone early, getting a correlation between practice and the game.

"We're just making each other better, making practice hard so hopefully the game can be easy. We're competitive and we're warriors on the court."

The hard-nosed mentality extends to how they view the opposition.

So as the Kings come to town down on players (starting point guard Aaron Bruce is out for the season) and confidence (back-to-back defeats they could and should have won), they get the Breakers' full respect.

"Sydney are playing great even though the record doesn't show it," Jackson said.

"We saw in the last few minutes against Perth they should have won that game.

"It tells you that you really can't sleep on that team because they're still capable of winning games."

A peek at Breakers training yesterday showed that the champs' intensity is right where it needs to be.

- © Fairfax NZ News