New Zealand Breakers swingman Tom Abercrombie is expecting to face a fired-up Sydney Kings when the two Australian NBL sides meet in Auckland.
Both the defending champion Breakers (1-3) and the Kings (1-2) have dropped their last two matches to sit in the bottom half of the table ahead of their clash on Wednesday night.
"They're in a similar position to us and both teams are pretty desperate," Abercrombie said.
"They'll come in and play their hearts out and with the lot of intensity."
The Breakers and Kings already know a bit about each other, having met three times in New Zealand last month as they prepared for the new season.
They split the first two matches, before the Sydneysiders got the better of their hosts in a closed-door scrimmage.
"They'll be confident in how they played us in the pre-season," Abercrombie said.
"I think we're a different team now and we have to go out there and show it."
Abercrombie sees the keys for the Breakers as being able to shut down the Kings' three-point shots and also to keep centre Julian Khazzouh in check.
"Defensively, they're able to tunnel a few things to him and he does a good job of protecting the rim - and he's also pretty handy at the other end too," Abercrombie said.
"We have to do a good job of taking away the three-balls firstly and then do a good job on the inside as well."
After a 96-75 loss away to Illawarra, the Breakers did manage to lift their performance in going down 83-80 in Perth.
They will have Corey Webster back after the shooting guard's stint trying out with NBA side New Orleans.
But there are injury concerns over centre Alex Pledger, who sat out against the Wildcats with foot soreness, and skipper Mika Vukona's hamstring strain.
