Well, after winning one in a row (!), here's hoping.

Harrison may have regained his form, Batemon may have found his, and if Wood, Prather, Norton and others continue theirs, Brissie must be in with a chance.

If luck is with the Bullets, the Breakers will be suffering from their travel and schedule. Also, wonder if Fall may have a destabilising effect on the team, is he in or not?

Think it will be a close one to call but thinking (hoping) Brisbane are 2 and 3 later tonight.

I like Brisbane but if PJC gets going nz are a chance. Hopefully a good game.

Would love for Rocco to start getting a few more minutes.

Taco is rehabbing his injury in NZ and then will be practicing with the team.

Breakers played some great basketball for stretches in the States and guys like Mojave King & Sam Menenga will be coming into Brisbane with a ton of confidence.

If NZ aren't too weathered from the travel they should get up for this one.

Breakers in a vacuum, but yeah entirely depends on how NZ have pulled up after flying back from the States.

So what's the go with the Breakers import situation? He will be training with the team to replace an existing player? Hardly a good situation to be in...

Brisbane sucks. NZ by 8.

No mention of potentially replacing anyone, Breakers have said they are happy with Gillespie and Mooney has been great so far and they aren't replacing PJC.

I'm pretty Matt Walsh has said he would love for Tacko to play for the Breakers next season.

They might end up having him as an injury replacement import if something happened much like Jarrall Brantley's brother was a couple of seasons ago.

I don't think he has the foot speed to play at the pace NZ want.

They don't know how to use Rocco!

Walsh ruled out Tacko over in the US but now they're bringing him out to NZ to train with the team with a view to signing him for the rest of the season. They're only 2 games into their season so they've still got about 5 games up their sleeve to release Gillespie without having him to pay him out for the rest of the season.

That kind of approach does not really strike me as being great for team morale. Is Gillespie just supposed to just suck it up and see what happens? I have never heard of an NBL team bringing over an import to train and eventually replace while existing import is still playing.

Mystro, strikes me as slightly odd then. Surely he can rehab in the US. Surely there is a professional opportunity somewhere in the world for him, so he doesn't have to wait around in NZ to play for them next year.

I can't remember the last time that happened either but to be fair replacements are usually lined up quite some time before the player is cut. But yes ruthless to have the potential replacement training with the team already.

Walsh badly wants Tacko at the Breakers, it went from just being the initial 3 NBA games to maybe back in NZ for the rest of the season too, to being ruled out injured of the NBA games and Walsh saying they're ruling a line through Tacko for this season but maybe next season to now flying him out to NZ to finish the last week of rehab for his injury and then start training with the team with a view to signing him for the rest of the season.

He's bending over backwards to try and get Tacko on the court for the Breakers this season whilst also sending a message to Gillespie to lift his game and quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole Tacko thing falls apart again soon, there seems to be a fools gold aspect to it all being driven by a fawning Walsh.

Agree with the comments of tacko. Got to be destabilizing. They're also selling tickets to meet him at Saturdays home game! No joke.

It's almost certain pjc will deliver tonight so for me the big question marks are mojave, mennenga and mooney. If two of those play well breakers win. If not they let bullets in with a chance.

@ AUSbasketball - you're right, Schueller is struggling with Rocco. Unfortunately the result is that Rocco’s draft stock is starting to badly tank.

Zodiac, It's not that I disagree with you, but most imports would already be aware they have to perform at high level or play the role they were selected for, or they might be gone early. They don't need it reinforced anymore than it already is. Wasn't Mooney on a kind of trial period too? This might be by design of Walsh possibly? This kind of treatment of imports as disposbale can't be great for reputation or team morale. Why would Gillespie even want to keep playing if this was the case?

Also would like to make my annual daylight saving whinge about how garbage 6:30pm tips are for Brisbane games. Especially on a Thursday night with notoriously poor traffic.

Master Chief, as I understand it all new imports to the NBL are on probationary contracts where they can be cut within the first 25% of the season, 7 games, without needing to be paid out for the rest of the season. As long as they're on one year deals too.

Again as I understand it imports that have played in the NBL have fully guaranteed contracts just like local players, i.e. why the Sixers couldn't cut Martin without paying him out in full for the season.

5 plays in and bolden has already shown at both ends why he shouldn't be starting

turn the music off oh my days

ESPN is doing great.

Gillespie fouls within seconds of hitting the court!

Non-stop music, feels like a 2000s disco. Add in the shitty game and this has been a terrible watch so far.

It's woeful. Breakers need mooney and mojave to knock down shorts otherwise they're cooked

Is this the worst game of the year so far?

I'd think so. Kop still hasn't installed any structure to the breakers play. Pjc just playing ad lib and keeping them in the game

Downright pathetic how the NBL talks about Rocco - specifically Lowery and Hooley.

They act as if he's in a slump because he’s not putting up Joel Embiid numbers.

If I was in Rocco’s camp you’d be absolutely filthy as they’re doing the exact opposite of hyping him for the NBA.

It's not a great game, PJC is excellent, the balance of nz roster is absolute budget, Brisbane also very budget. I thought you had to spend up to 90% of the salary cap, if so most players from both these side are over paid.

Kop's team talk after he called the time out... had no idea what his message was?? Just "five minutes to go"!! No message, no motivation.

Good to see Batemon prove he's a player.

Think the only people who enjoyed watching this is SEM. They know they're not the worst team in the league!

Agree Kolzee but SEM has lost to both these sides. Take PJC out, Harrison been good also but balance are very very ordinary.

The last few minutes just felt like NZ missing 3. After 3. On repeat.

Don't really rate NZ at this stage.

NZ have gone from being well coached to???

@screeningnick I think the commentators would like to see the potential that Rocco presents. Sure he is raw but getting game time is essential, he can offer a lot more. Maybe the pairing with Harrison isn't great as he is also stepping up needs significant minutes. I think NBA recruiters would also feel he's just not yet ready. Needs more exposure, SEM would be a better fit behind Hunter, 16-18 minutes consistently a game would be ideal with more involvement offensively.

I understand that but what do they want? You can't play him and Harrison together and Harrison right now is the better player.

Also Rocco is never going to be a dominant post scorer, that’s not his game nor will it ever be when he makes the NBA. His skills are his defense, rebounding and target as a roll man/lob threat.

First time in a long time I have found an NBL game boring.

I can see why the Breakers want Fall around. Gillespie has good energy but doesn't really offer anything at all. The output drops considerably when Mennenga is off the floor.

Agree essenx - even gillespies roll to the hoop is pretty clumsy and hands awful. Poor short range shot. And he shows too hard every time on defence.

It's a shame because as you say he's putting the effort in but he offers so little otherwise.

I think it's inevitable tacko will replace him once fit

Breakers looked like a team that had just flown around the world and their body language wasn't great.
Threw up a ton of 3's and didn't seem to have much else up their sleeve.

Things won't get much easier against Perth on Saturday.

Kolzee do you thing Tacko's going to be more mobile and have better hands than Gillspie? I can't see how he'll fit in with someone as quick as PJC.
A lot of those passes in to Gillespie were terrible last night.

Mystro - my comment was referring to what I think is inevitable.

Personally I'd far prefer pardon back, sign the sauce or even bring back brantley/cheatham and use mennenga and bolden at 5

It's not that Rocco is playing poor or they don't know what to do with him, the guards don't even seem to consider him an option offensively at the moment.

He also seems to run out of gas really quickly which I'm sure he will overcome.

Both teams I felt shot poorly, but the Bullets particulary the last few games have struggled to make buckets that seem to be a given at a high % at a professional level.

Some of the passes to Gillespie weren't great, but he’s not getting to the right spots and he looked clumsy. Is Fall going to be better? Maybe not, but Fall can do different things at the rim (at both ends).

Breakers don’t need someone as good as Pardon. Last night I was thinking the Breakers would be fine with someone basic like Will Hudson. Someone who can catch and finish, and doesn’t mind doing some dirty work (come on Jonah!).

Pardon, Brantley and Cheatham are all in Japan, Pardon b-2 and Cheatham off the bench. Money talks.

As you pointed out though dunkman if they're spending 90% of the cap then outside of pjc there's got to be a couple of players getting paid much more than what their output deserves

Exactly, some of their guys must be embarrassed when the money goes into their accounts.