Battle of the Big Boys
Tagged in: NBL
Friday night will be the rematch of the 2008 Finals when the Waikato Pistons travel to Wellington to play the Century City Saints at TSB Bank Arena.
The rivalry between the Pistons and Saints has intensified in the new millennium meeting each other in the Finals three times in the last 8 years with the Pistons up two to one.
Their first finals meeting was in 2001 when Waikato would crush the Saints 112-97 in Hamilton, winning the final three quarters to secure their first ever NBL Championship.
Brothers Pero and Ray Cameron are the only two players left in the new look Pistons team that played in that final and the Saints Troy McLean is the sole player remaining on the current Saints team.
From 2001 to 2003 the Pistons had dominance over the Saints winning seven in a row. 2002 the Saints hired a young upcoming coach in the Victorian ranks Dean Vickerman who caoched a season and a half for the Saints and would then go on to be assistant coach for current Saints coach Gordie McLeod at the Singapore Slingers.
The Victorian Vickerman now the coach of the Pistons will now go up against his former mentor McLeod who is from New South Wales in a mate versus mate state versus state contest.
In 2003 Pistons were the heavy favourites to take out the championship and win the three-peat, but the Saints had other ideas.
The 2003 Final was a sea saw contest with the Saints winning the first and third quarters, Pistons winning the second and fourth quarters to send the game to overtime. Current Saints player Brendon Polyblank was instrumental scoring a game high 23 points leading his underdog side to an overtime victory and championship number five for the Wellington franchise.
From 2004-2007 both teams did not make the finals, but made appearances in the playoffs. During that span Saints would win five of eight matchups against the Pistons
But 2008 would be redemption for the Pistons who signed arguably one of the best import duos to come to New Zealand, former Australian NBL Most Valuable Player Brian Wethers and guard Jason Crowe who would go on to win the NBL Most Valuable Player that year.
The Saints would win the regular season with a 14-4 record followed by the Pistons who had a 13-5 record. The two teams would split their regular season games both winning at home.
The 2008 Finals series was a best of three series with the first game in Te Awamutu. Wethers and Crowe would combine for 50 points to dominate the Saints in game one 95-78.
But the Pistons would have their work cut out for them as they would have to close the series in TSB Bank Arena where the Saints were unbeaten winning 9 consecutive home games.
The first quarter was tight with the Saints slightly ahead 18-16. But in the second quarter Pero Cameron would lead his team giving the Pistons a 40-30 lead at the half.
Saints would not give in easy storming back to win the third quarter by 13 and have a 59-56 advantage.
Heading into the final quarter with momentum and a home crowd on their side the Saints were heavy favourites to close game two and take it to winner takes all game three. Pistons had different ideas and regrouped to win the final quarter by eight and win championship number
three for the franchise.
Friday nights game will be important for both sides if they wish to host a home semi final. Pistons are sitting pretty with a 10-1 record and a seven game winning streak. The Saints on the other hand were rattled last week in the fourth quarter going down 79-70 against the ecogise Nelson Giants, probably needing to win the remainder of their games if they wish to finish in the top two.
Both sides have new imports with the Pistons signing Adelaide 36ers import Adam Ballinger who has been one of the top players in the Australian League and they signed former Otago Nugget import Justin Bailey who averaged 23.9 points for them.
Saints have signed big man Damon Thornton who currently leads the NBL in blocks at 1.8 per contest. Their other import is high scoring guard Mike Efevberha who is third in the league in scoring at 27.5 points per game.
Pistons have also signed kiwis Michael Fitchett, Thomas Abercrombie and Alex Pledger to go with last years team of Pero Cameron, Ray Cameron, Mike Homik and Puke Lendon.
Saints kept most of their team from last season with Lindsay Tait, Troy McLean, Brendon Polyblank, Leon Henry, Luke Martin and Arthur Trousdell returning.
Tonights game will be full of emotion and intensity in particular for the Saints who would love to erase the memory of 2008. Pistons will also want to stamp their authority this weekend by beating the Saints and top of the table ecogise Nelson Giants to retain the number one spot that they last had back in round three.
Pero Cameron will be playing his 300th NBL game and there is arguably no other team he would love to get a win from than the Saints.
Friday, May 29
At TSB Bank Arena, Wellington
Century City Saints v Waikato Pistons, 7pm
Referees - Andy Thackray, Yalla Edwards, Joe Hemi
