Campbell Places Pressure Squarely On New Zealand

Illawarra Mercury

Friday January 2, 2009

By TIM KEEBLE

WOLLONGONG captain Mat Campbell believes all the pressure is on the New Zealand Breakers in tonight's meeting at the WEC.

That's no misprint. While the Hawks (8-13) are two wins out of the top six and the in-form Breakers (15-4) are looking down at everyone, Campbell claimed his side had rediscovered its passion for winning and was keen to measure itself against the league leaders.

"They're a team above us on the ladder and they'll be expected to win, and we can come out with a nothing to lose attitude and just play," the 14th-year guard said.

"We'd lost eight in a row and we'd tightened up. There's pressure from the media, the public and the pressure you put on yourself. That seems to have lifted now. A couple of wins has loosened us up a bit."

The Hawks beat Sydney last Saturday and backed up with Wednesday's 112-105 road win over Cairns.

Campbell said beating the Breakers would do wonders for the Hawks' play-off aspirations.

"The mood is different, the swagger is a little different, there's just a really good feeling among the group again," the one-time Australian Boomer said.

"We've found a better rhythm as a group.

"We've gone back to sharing the ball and sharing the responsibility, and that's at the defensive end as well.

"The teams we beat are two teams we should beat, but we've still got a bit of improving to do against the top teams and that starts (tonight).

"They're playing awesome basketball and they've proved they're one of the benchmark teams, but that should just make us embrace the challenge even more, especially now we've got our confidence back. If we're going to make a run at the play-offs, this is exactly the sort of game we have to win."

As he has done in the past four games, Campbell will come off the bench tonight and alternate between guarding NBL scoring leader Kirk Penney and three-point marksman Phill Jones.

"Penney's one of the real quality players in the league and Jones is shooting the hell out of the ball," he said.

© 2009 Illawarra Mercury

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