Penney looking to make it 3-0 against former club

He did it with a 36-point haul the first time he faced his former club in round two, prompting Breakers coach Dean Vickerman to declare: “Kirk Penney had something to prove tonight.”

When he dropped seven points in opening three minutes of the return clash it prompted an urgent timeout and a directive from Vickerman: “Kirk Penney is not doing this to us again tonight.”

It proved futile with Penney scoring 27 points in his first visit to New Zealand in rival colours as the Hawks racked up the highest ever score from a visiting side at Vector Arena.

For a player who’s admitted he never imagined he’d play against the side he led to their first championship in 2010, he sure seems to have enjoyed it.

He has the chance to torment them again twice in the space of four days this week with Thursday’s clash at the WEC to be followed by a return clash in Auckland three days later.

It’s not the first time he’s faced former teams in a 15-year top-flight career but he admits facing his hometown franchise holds a special significance.

‘‘I’ve never really played for a club in my life where I’ve invested so much emotion into it as the New Zealand Breakers because it’s my hometown,” Penney said.

‘‘There was a lot of emotion in that [first] game and wanting to play well.

‘‘We’re playing them a third time now, we played them in New Zealand so we’ve got that out of the way, and there’s so many greater things to play for that I’m focusing on.

‘‘If we win here at home we win the series. That’s going to be big because I think we’re both going to be in it down the stretch.

‘‘My focus is on finding a way win this game rather than the emotional factors involved earlier on.

‘‘We’re a couple of games down and we’ve got a couple more to go so there’s still plenty to be written in the tale yet.”