Forman rebounds from poor form

After an off-season dominated by ankle issues, Breakers forward Oscar Forman is just now starting to feel himself again.

And the pay-off was apparent on Thursday night as Forman scored a season-high 18 points, including three three-pointers, in the 83-74 home win over the Perth Wildcats.

Just four nights earlier, Forman had missed all five of his shots from the field, all three- pointers, in a scoreless night as the Breakers fell 94-74 to the same Wildcats in Perth.

The contrast in those two stat- lines has been emblematic of Forman's out-of-sorts season so far.

Although averaging just under his nine-season career averages in points and rebounds after 10 games, Forman's numbers are well down on his breakout 2008-09 year when he thrived in the selfless Breakers offence, going for 12.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.

"It's about time the form came back. I've got no real excuses for it, my form just hasn't been that good," the 2.05m fourth-year Breaker said. But look at the 27-year-old's off-season and you can understand why he has struggled.

Surgery on his left ankle in March was followed by a period of inactivity while recovering in his hometown Adelaide before being called into the Australia Boomers squad.

Before the national team's departure for South America, he went over on his right ankle but battled through, playing 13 games for the Boomers over three months - he missed one game after rolling his right ankle in warm-ups against Brazil - and missing most of the Breakers' pre- season.

He said the ankle got "tighter and tighter" as the international campaign progressed and resulted in him getting out of game shape.

In previous off-seasons, Forman had stayed on the North Shore, playing for the Harbour Heat in the NBL, allowing him to play through until the end of June, with a month off before the start of the Breakers pre-season.

"In hindsight it probably wasn't a smart decision to play with the injury, but it's a childhood dream to play for your country.

"It's probably something I should've talked to Pauli [Henare] or Kirk [Penney] about, how to come into the season after playing internationals. It was a bit of blind judgement from me."

The rangy forward assures he is now fully fit and ready to help the Breakers bridge the scoring gap in the absence of their MVP Kirk Penney.

The Breakers, still searching for their first road win, will need Forman's all-round game as they tackle the tropical North Queensland double-header in Townsville and Cairns on Wednesday and Friday nights in round nine of the ANBL.

- © Fairfax NZ News