Tip-off: Thursday, January 24 2013, 7:30pm (local), North Shore Events Centre, Auckland

TV: Sky Sports (New Zealand); NBL.TV (live)

Radio: Radio Sport NZ

Last time they met: Sydney 75 (Henry 29, Madgen 13, Crosswhite 12) d New Zealand 62 (Bruton 18, Webster 11), Round 10, 2012/13, Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre

The story

Mika Vukona doesn’t really like talking about New Zealand’s Round 10 capitulation at the hands of the Kings.

“We were so disappointed. I could use the word embarrassed, really,” he said.

While a loss to a hot-shooting opponent is one thing, Sydney dominated the effort areas New Zealand pride themselves on as they ran up a 21-point final-quarter lead before the Breakers restored some late respectability to the scoreboard.

“That hurts a lot. Your system’s shocked like that, especially being beaten on those trademarks. It cuts deep,” Vukona said.

“They just dismantled us, killed us on the boards and our defence was real shoddy.”

This time around Vukona has his eyes set on Kings power forward Darnell Lazare, who has given the Kiwi international the sort of troubles he usually gives others.

“He’s a tough dude. He’s a smart player too. He seems to be in the right spot at the right time, all the time,” Vukona said.

“You’ve got to know where he is at all times, he just goes and gets rebounds and there’s a lot of respect from us, but that just makes me more determined to stop him.”

Sydney’s other import, the pint-sized Corin Henry, also “went to town” on the Breakers in Round 10, piling on 29 points at 52 per cent from the field.

Cedric Jackson was unable to trouble Henry’s ball-handling and New Zealand’s big men could not contain him coming off the ball-screen or hand-offs.

It was just another trademark of the Breakers that was simply missing on the night, but don’t expect the reigning champs to fall down in the key areas this week in Auckland.

“That’s something that’s definitely not going to happen this time around,” Vukona said emphatically.

The stats

Against New Zealand Lazare has averaged eight rebounds, including four offensive, 2.5 blocks and two steals, matching or edging Vukona in all four categories in both games.

In Sydney’s victory over the Breakers, Ian Crosswhite had 12 points and 11 rebounds while keeping Alex Pledger to four and six. In the Kings’ loss, “Crossy” had four and six to Pledger’s 16 and 10.

Sydney have grabbed 36 per cent of rebounds at the offensive end against New Zealand this season. Against the rest of the NBL the Breakers give up just 27 per cent.

In seven games since his shoulder injury Ben Madgen’s shooting has dropped from 49 per cent overall and 43 per cent on three-pointers to 38 and 17.

The wrap

Sydney have been wrapped up by zones in recent weeks and will be looking forward to facing the predominantly man-to-man Breakers.

The Kings have executed superbly against the defending champs this year, who have shown a vulnerability to guarding quick point guards using the high ball-screen.

Sydney coach Shane Heal desperately needs Aaron Bruce and Henry to break their recent slumps and make that play effective again, thereby reducing some of the intense focus opposition teams are placing on Madgen.

Not surprisingly, rebounding will be the key in this one and New Zealand will remember the hiding they copped in this area for most of their Round 10 clash.

The Breakers can’t keep winning all the close games and Sydney are a team desperate to turn their fortunes around, but New Zealand have more than earned the right to be favourites in this one.

Prediction: Breakers by 4

By Grant Chapman, Pagemasters

The hot hand of Daryl Corletto propelled the New Zealand Breakers’ winning streak to eight games as they accounted for the Sydney Kings 95-76 at a sold-out North Shore Events Centre on Thursday.

Corletto came out smoking in the opening quarter, slotting four from the arc as he accounted for the Breakers’ first 14 points. He duly returned to slot back-to-back three-pointers in the fourth to finally end the Kings’ comeback hopes.

The guard eventually lead his team with 22 points, while Tom Abercrombie contributed 17 and Cedric Jackson dished 10 assists.

"Daryl has been busting his butt in practice over the past few weeks," reflected Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis.

"When you see that, it's no surprise to see someone shoot 6-of-8 from the three-point line. I believe in a two-week process - it doesn't happen straight away, it usually takes a couple of weeks for that work to pay off."

For Sydney, Ian Crosswhite had a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Ben Madgen scored 20 points.

The contest started at a furious pace with Corletto on fire and Sydney obviously favouring an up-tempo style as both teams hammered down numerous dunks.

The Kings were quick in transition and held on to the runaway train for dear life, but when Corletto departed replacement CJ Bruton simply stepped into the void with consecutive treys of his own.

"Our plan was to take away their strengths and make them play to their weaknesses," explained Kings coach Shane Heal.

"Last time we played them we did a good job on CJ, Jackson and Corletto, but they shot 7-of-7 three-pointers in the first half tonight."

Somehow the Kings were only down by nine after the opening quarter, but were struck another blow when top scorer Madgen picked up his third foul one minute into the second stanza and retreated to the bench.

Without him Sydney lacked firepower to respond as the Breakers fired on all cylinders. By the half, the home team were up 58-40, shooting an incredible 8-of-11 from the arc.

"For me, it was about defence," said Lemanis.

"During the first half, they shot about 60 per cent and we hadn't played that smart at the defending end, but we did a better job in the second half."

All things considered, Sydney were probably luck to only trail by 18 and immediately set out making up that deficit with Madgen back on board.

By three-quarter-time they were back within 11 and when Graeme Dann and Corin Henry scored first in the fourth period the margin was back to single figures.

It got as close as seven points before Abercrombie and Corletto hit back-to-back-to-back threes that put the victory beyond Sydney.

"I thought the guys showed a lot of character coming back to seven after being down 20 points," said Madgen.

"We had a positive mindset after halftime and played some good basketball. But when we got to seven, we had a few key turnovers that could have closed the gap, then they came down and hit some big shots."

The win was the Breakers’ 100th on their home court, and despite a gruelling road schedule of late Lemanis believes his 16-3 team is in a rhythm that augurs well for Saturday's road trip to Wollongong..

NZ Breakers 95 (Corletto 22, Abercrombie 17, Bruton 12, Pledger 11, Vukona 10)
Sydney Kings 76 (Crosswhite 22, Madgen 20, Henry 11, Harvey 10)

Crowd: 4000 at North Shore Events Centre, Auckland