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Tip-off: Thursday, February 23, 7.30pm (local), North Shore Events Centre, Auckland

TV/Radio: SKY Sports, 7.30pm (New Zealand) / Radio Sport

Last time they met: New Zealand 88 (Abercrombie 19, Wilkinson 18, Corletto 16) d Townsville 74 (Holmes 21, Crawford 17), Round 8, 2011/12, Townsville Entertainment Centre

Crocodiles rocked
When Townsville slumped 79-74 against the Adelaide 36ers in Round 19 they dropped to 11-9 and were in danger of falling out of finals contention.

Coach Paul Woolpert angrily said some players wouldn’t get paid for the game if it were up to him, believing they had let their teammates and their club down.

Fast forward seven days and the Crocs have beaten fellow contenders Cairns and Gold Coast in the one weekend, moving back into the third position they surrendered with another inept performance against Perth in Round 17.

Woolpert was reluctant to call those losses a turning point, but believes the way they played against Adelaide has jarred the playing group into action.

There is a D in Crocodile
“I think at this point it was a wake-up call. No disrespect to Adelaide, but we had beaten them a couple of times handily,” Woolpert said.

“You have to be prepared to play every night, and I often talk to the guys about being prepared individually and collectively. I think we’re all on the same page now.”

The Crocs were a different team defensively last weekend, allowing their opponents to hit just 39-of-130 shots from the field – a dismal 30 per cent.

Now they face the challenge of doing the same job on New Zealand, who scored 74 points in the final three quarters the last time the teams met.

Playing like champs
For Peter Crawford – a Mt Isa boy who began his iiNet NBL career in Townsville in 1999 – winning a championship in Crocs colours is his only goal and the Breakers in Auckland are a great way to test their readiness for the post-season.

“Losing to Adelaide and dropping to fifth put our backs to the wall but it could also be good because we have to treat every game like it is a playoff game,” he said.

“I read a quote that said ‘if you want to play in a championship game you have to play every game like it is the championship game’.”

The Breakers were at playoff intensity last week against Wollongong, and there will be no welcome mats waiting for the Crocs after they jumped New Zealand 33-14 at Vector Arena in Round 8.

Crawford and Jacob Holmes led the way with an early three-point barrage, but when the defence cut off their supply no other Crocs were able to step up.

The wrap
Few teams have been able to string multiple high-energy defensive performances together this season, but Townsville will be in for a long night if they can’t produce last weekend’s intensity.

After being locked into a halfcourt game by Wollongong the past two weeks, the Breakers will be itching to create havoc in transition, particularly Cedric Jackson, who was frustrated by the Hawks' packed-in defence.

It will be interesting to see whether Crocs centre Luke Schenscher guards the sharp-shooting Gary Wilkinson, or Woolpert gambles on him marking Mika Vukona and staying near the basket to deter Jackson.

Schenscher will be a key offensively too, as Crocs creator Eddie Gill will have his hands full with the pesky Jackson, who held him to seven points, 2-of-11 shooting and forced him into four turnovers in Round 8.

The Breakers should be too good, but they have shown weaknesses when taken out of their preferred flowing game.

Prediction: Breakers by 12