. . . Now For The Playoffs
Tagged in: Competitions, NBL
With the regular season in the rear-vision mirror, the playoffs beckon in the Dominion Finance NBL.
And what better way to start than with a repeat of the 2007 NBL Finals?
The Easy LPG Bay Hawks will look to avenge their 0-2 championship series loss from 12 months ago when they host the CPS Nelson Giants at Pettigrew.Green Arena on Tuesday night in the first quarterfinal to tip-off the Second Season.
On Wednesday night, the Appliance Shed Harbour Heat welcome cross-harbour rivals, the Youthtown Auckland Stars to the North Shore Events Centre for the third edition of the Battle of the Bridge in the second quarterfinal.
Coach Doug Marty and the regular season champion Century City Wellington Saints await the Hawks-Giants winner on Thursday night in the first semifinal at TSB Bank Arena, while the Waikato Pistons will host the Heat-Stars victor in the second semifinal at the Te Awamutu Events Centre on Friday.
All quarterfinals and semifinals will be shown live on Sky Sport, coverage starting at 7.30pm, tip-offs at 7.40pm.
The Giants and Hawks split their regular season meetings this season, the G-Men winning 90-79 in Nelson on May 24 in round 13, and the Hawks returning the favour in Taradale on Friday night, winning 90-87.
The Stars defeated Harbour twice this season, the last meeting a convincing 96-81 win at NSEC.
Looking ahead to potential semifinal match-ups, the Saints went 1-1 against the Hawks, including a 26-point loss in March, but dominated the Giants 2-0, while the Pistons split their season series with the Heat but defeated the Stars twice.
The NBL expanded its playoffs from four teams to six in 2008, a format last seen in 1998, when the Nelson, Harbour, Auckland and Wellington franchises also reached the postseason.
A decade may have flown by but 11 players from those 1998 playoffs will be involved in 2008.
Retired Tall Blacks guard Phill Jones was a member of the champion Giants team and returns for the CPS Nelson Giants again, while Nelson coach Chris Tupu was on the Wellington Wizards roster 10 years ago.
The Saints have shooting guard Troy McLean and back-up sharpshooter Brendon Pongia (with Harbour) as their remaining links, while the Pistons have Pero Cameron and Prem Krishna (with Auckland).
Current Heat forward Daryl Cartwright and coach Tony Webster, and Stars forward Dillon Boucher were also part of that Auckland team in 1998, while Hawks players Paul Henare (Auckland), Poara Winitana (North Harbour) and Clifton Bush (Canterbury) were all with other franchises back in the day.
2008 Dominion Finance NBL Playoffs
NBL Quarterfinals
QF1: Easy LPG Bay Hawks vs CPS Nelson Giants, Pettigrew.Green Arena, Taradale, 7.40pm
QF2: Appliance Shed Harbour Heat vs Youthtown Auckland Stars, North Shore Events Centre, North Shore, 7.40pm
NBL Semifinals
SF1: Century City Wellington Saints vs Hawks/Giants, TSB Bank Arena, Wellington, 7.40pm
SF2: Waikato Pistons vs Heat/Stars, Te Awamutu Events Centre, Te Awamutu, 7.40pm
NBL Finals
Game One: Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2, teams and venue TBC
Game Two: Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2, teams and venue TBC
Game Three: Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2, teams and venue TBC*
* if necessary
Dominion Finance NBL Playoffs Guide (879KB pdf)
