Basketball New Zealand

June 4, 2009

Round 13 of the NZCT National Basketball League should give a clearer indication of which teams will host the semi finals when the Pistons and Saints play double headers.

Waikato Pistons travel to the Furnace on Thursday night to play the red hot Appliance Shed Harbour Heat who currently has the best winning streak in the league winning four in a row. The last time the two teams met was back in Round Six when the Pistons thrashed the Heat 97-79.

The Heat replaced import Chaz Spicer for Mike Bell since then and he has made an instant impact nearly averaging a double/double of 17.8 points and 9.8 rebounds. Bell is also second in the league in blocks at 1.6 per contest.

Even though the Pistons loss a game last round they beat the Giants 76-73 to secure the top spot, but will have to keep winning if they want to win the regular season. The Giants have the tie break over the Pistons if they finish up with the same record. Before Fridays game Pistons Pero Cameron was averaging only 3.4 points per game, but as we have seen before when it comes to crunch time Cameron always delivers scoring 15 against the Saints and backing it up with 17 in the victory over the Giants.

Pistons will then return to Hamilton to host the Century City Saints on Saturday, which will have huge implications on who will host a semi final. Saints will be feeling confident after last round when they arguably played their best game of the season when they won 100-86, erasing the Pistons seven game winning streak. But they won’t have their home crowd behind them which gave the Saints a lift in the second half winning it by 19.

Pistons need to improve defensively where they let the Saints shoot 61.4%, allowing the most points scored by an opposition this season at 100.

Before the game against the Pistons the Saints will host the 0800 Easy LPG Bay Hawks at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua on Friday. This is the second time the Saints have played at the new arena, but did not perform very well in their first game their losing to the Cougars 90-75.

If the Saints wish to host a semi final they will need to win their three remaining games which are all against top six teams. The game will be equally important for the Hawks who need to build up some momentum coming into the playoffs. Hawks finally snapped out of a five game losing streak beating the Stars but could not back it up against the Heat losing 83-73. Hawks new import David Cooper has yet to have a big one for the Hawks averaging only seven points and 4.5 rebounds in three games.

Hawks will travel down to Christchurch to play the Bartercard Christchurch Cougars on Saturday night. Cougars currently have two game winning streak, one of them against the Hawks when the Cougars won 83-74. Defense has been a major focus for the Cougars and they continued this last round holding the Jets to only 58 points.

The McDonalds Manawatu Jets will need to improve on their offence if they can take down the ecogise Nelson Giants at Arena Manawatu at 6pm. The last time the two teams met at Arena Manawatu the Jets won 113-87. They will need to get better production from their leading scorer Marcel Jones who shot a dismal four from twenty six in the loss against the Cougars.

Devon Dynamos Taranaki will attempt for win number one of the season hosting the struggling Youthtown Auckland Stars. Coming into this game both teams has lost a combined 24 of 26 games with the Stars losing seven in a row and the Dynamos with thirteen in a row. Stars nearly ended their losing streak against the Hawks winning the fourth quarter by 12, but fell just short losing 84-80. The Dynamos did not play in Round 12, so they will be fully rested which will be what they needed with their injury plagued season that they have had.

Thursday, June 4th

At North Shore Event Centre

Appliance Shed Harbour Heat v Waikato Pistons, 7pm

Referees - Tim Brown, Dallas Pickering, Kieran Udy

Friday, June 5

At Te Rauparaha Arena, Porirua

Century City Saints v 0800 Easy LPG Bay Hawks, 7pm

Referees - Alan Godden, Joe Hemi, Yalla Edwards

At TSB Stadium, New Plymouth

Devon Dynamos Taranaki v Youthtown Auckland Stars, 7pm

Referees - Melony Wealleans, Colin Dowling, Tony Eldershaw

Saturday, June 6

At Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North

McDonalds Manawatu Jets v ecogise Nelson Giants, 6pm

Referees - Andy Thackray, Sean Cronin, Gareth Teahan

At Cowles Stadium, Christchurch

Bartercard Christchurch Cougars v 0800 Easy LPG Bay Hawks, 7pm

Referees - Gavin Zimmerman, Raewyn Willocks, Raelene Forde

At Hamilton YMCA

Waikato Pistons v Century City Saints, 7.30pm

Referees - Gavin Whiu, Dallas Pickering, Kelly McLeod