Basketball New Zealand

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Bay Hawks guard Paora Winitana, Nelson Giants import Josh Pace & Waikato Pistons import Jason Crowe (Photosport_

With less than two rounds remaining in the cut-throat Dominion Finance NBL, there is more at stake than championship honours Ö there are also individual accolades to consider.

With so little separating the top six teams (and the leading scorer and rebounder both coming from outside the playoff scramble), the voting for Most Valuable Player promises to be just as contentious. Here are three that have put their hands up Ö

Jason Crowe (U Park It Waikato Pistons)

Since arriving midseason to replace injured centre Jason Fraser, Crowe has provided the perfect backcourt foil to Aussie/Kiwi point guard Luke Martin and the most physical forward line in the comp.

He has been atop the Player Power Rankings since his first outing and ranks near the top of several statistical categories, namely 3pt%, assists and steals. His assist-to-turnover ratio, a measure of ball handling reliability, is a healthy 2.7, trailing only Tall Black point guard Paul Henare (3.3) and Harbour Heatís Jarrod Kenny (3.2).

As a shooter, he is the only player in the league converting 50% FG, 40% 3pt and 80% FT.

The biggest knock against him Ö are eight games – less than half the regular season – enough to merit MVP consideration.

Josh Pace (Blue Chip Nelson Giants)

Pace was a standout for Nelson last year and earned selection in the All-Star Five. His stats this season are better virtually across the board (his FT% is down from 66.7 to 58.1).

While not yet a genuine outside shooter, he has obviously worked on his range over the summer and is nearly 10% better from beyond the arc.

Pace was Player of the Week in Round One and has lurked around the top of Player Power Rankings ever since, currently sitting at No 3 (although nudging past Dillon Boucher into second spot after Mondayís games).

Perhaps the most surprising feature of his game is his rebounding ability. He is the only guard ranked among the top 20 in this category and is sixth (3.3) in offensive boards.

Paora Winitana (Easy LPG Bay Hawks)

A popular winner of this award in 2006, Winitana simply willed the Hawks to the title against considerable adversity, including the loss of point guard Henare for most of the season. He was never near the top of the Player Power Rankings – he finished 21st for the year – but they often fail to reflect intangibles that make winning teams.

This season, Winitana has been at least as good as he was last year, averaging 3.5 points a game more and falling just short of that 50/40/80 shooting accuracy standard. He sits 12th on the power rankings, but will slip a few spots after a sub par performance against Nelson on Monday.

The most astounding aspect of his game has been his consistency from the arc, especially in tight games. He leads the league in this respect, something NBL fans would have laughed at five years ago when he was regarded almost exclusively as a supreme athlete, best going to the hoop.

Now he can do both.

In many ways, the race for individual rewards will depend on which teams emerge from the pack for semifinal berths.

While the stocks of Youthtown Auckland Stars veterans Dillon Boucher, Casey Frank and Lindsay Tait seem to be waning, if they were to find a way into the playoffs, any of them could be a strong MVP contender.

And how do you choose a candidate from league-leading Appliance Shed Harbour Heat, who have sealed their first post-season appearance in seven years more through great team chemistry than the efforts of any one standout player.

So many questions Ö

Dominion Finance NBL Guide (Round 14) (pdf 1.1KB)