The Breakers play their first home game of the new ANBL season in Auckland on Friday, but will save raising their championship banner until next week.
The banner raising tradition in basketball is something the Breakers will uphold, but not at Vector Arena, the venue for their match against Sydney on Friday night.
They will wait until next Thursday when they meet the Adelaide 36ers at the North Shore Events Centre, which remains the Breakers' base despite holding about half of the Vector Arena's 8000-seat capacity.
Breakers import Gary Wilkinson said sharing home games between the venues could work in their favour this season, but he has a soft spot for the team's home on the North Shore.
"I like playing at the NSEC. People filled it last year, it gets loud in there and it's a great arena,'' he said. "If Vector can be the same way - obviously a bigger venue - it creates more of an influence from the crowd. If it gets going, then it will be a great place to play.''
Despite winning three of their four games on the road, the Breakers have largely flown under the radar as the nation was distracted by a certain rugby festival, and general manager Richard Clarke said playing at Vector Arena was an ideal way to recapture the public's imagination.
"We knew we were coming in on the back of the World Cup, so we wanted to do something reasonably big to get our season underway,'' he said.
The arena is scheduled to host three games during the regular season - the rest are at their regular home venue on the North Shore - and Clarke said the team could return if they make the playoffs.
"Part of the reason for playing games during the season there is so the guys get familiar with the environment,'' he said. "In a grand final scenario, if the demand warranted it, that would give us that option. Hopefully that's something we have to consider.''
The team resisted demands to switch venues during their playoff run last season due to its larger capacity, but Clarke said public pressure played a part in taking games to Vector this season.
"It's up to the fans to back that up. The success of it will be determined by whether those people actually come.''
But Clarke confirmed the NSEC would remain the team's permanent base.
"I think the reality of attracting 8000 a game is tough, and the NSEC is our home and our guys like playing there,'' he said. "Hopefully we can get a good mix of a couple of games at Vector Arena each year and sell-outs at North Shore the rest of the time.''
The Breakers' only defeat of the season came last weekend when they were narrowly beaten 67-64 by the Melbourne Tigers.
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