Party Poopers
Tagged in: NBL
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While TET Taranaki Mountain Airs have clearly taken on the role of this yearís ìspoilersî, rookie coach Trent Adam still hasnít completely forsaken hope of making the Dominion Finance NBL semifinals.
They enhanced their reputation as giant-killers with a 99-84 home victory over league leaders Youthtown Auckland Stars on Saturday, their second straight result over post-season contenders after taking out Blue Chip Nelson Giants eight days earlier.
Their daring exploits over the past two weeks will have delighted other title aspirants, but also made those with fixtures still pending against the Airs very nervous indeed.
ìWe knew there would be a lot of teams quite happy that we beat Nelson and Iím sure they will be just as happy with us beating Auckland,î muses Adam.
ìIf we can keep putting performances together and get some wins, maybe we can create a log jam in the middle of the table. If we can do that, weíre not out of it, although realistically, it wonít be an easy ride.
ìWe pretty much have to run the table from here.î
Taranaki currently sit seventh on the league table with a 6-7 record. Of the teams ahead of them, they have already split season series with Nelson, Century City Wellington Saints and defending champions Easy LPG Bay Hawks.
Just as crucially, they hold countback advantage over both the Giants and the Saints.
In their five remaining games, they still have an opportunity to seriously dent the playoff ambitions of, in order, the Stars, Appliance Shed Harbour Heat and U Park Waikato Pistons, albeit all on the road.
Their win over Auckland finally lowered a side that had been vulnerable for the past two weeks, since imports Tashaan Forehan-Kelly and Daniel Lambert shot through. Ironically, the Stars had just added replacements Corey Hallett and Brandon Cole to their roster, but could not overcome the loss of NZ Tall Black Casey Frank to suspension.
In Frankís absence and with Hallett (2.08m) still coming to grips with his new surroundings, Airs veteran Link Abrams had a field day in the paint, accumulating 32 points (14/19 FG, 4/7 FT) and 18 rebounds (10 OR).
ìOver the course of his NBL career, Link has been absolutely outstanding, but perhaps a bit undervalued,î observes Adam. ìPeople always talk about his lack of size, but he still puts up great numbers, year in and year out.
ìHe just works really hard around the basket. He knows what he can do and doesnít try to do too much.î
Defensively, Adam was impressed with the tenacity of Kaine Hokianga, better known as an outside shooter, in restricting Lindsay Tait to 17 points (4/10 FG, 2/5 3pt, 7/8 FT), the first time in nearly a month the former MVP had not cracked 30. Hokianga, who had also foiled star Nelson import Josh Pace the previous week, actually outscored Tait with 19 points of his own.
As a unit, Taranaki succeeded in one of their goals for the 2007 campaign Ö to restrict opponents to the low 80s in scoring.
While this season seems destined to produce another mid-table finish for the close-but-no-cigar Airs, there have been plenty of gains in Adamís debut at this level. The most obvious is his own development as one of the very few Kiwi coaches in the league.
ìThere are thing I am still learning, that Iím not doing well,î he admits. ìIím pretty happy with the response from the team Ö I feel Iíve got them to play to their potential and weíre doing the thing Iíve identified as key areas to success.
ìI still look back on games and am disappointed that I havenít picked up on changes made by the opposition as quickly as I would like, but for a first-year coach, Iím reasonably happy.î
Individually, Abrams (11.4) currently commands the league rebound rankings, while American Garry Hill-Thomas (26.6 points) leads the scoring race. Critics might suggest Taranaki would have been better off replacing American centre Gabe Stephenson, whose 8.2 points (38.9% FG) and 6.8 rebounds represent the lowest production of any import in the competition.
ìGabe has fitted in great,î insists Adam. ìWith Garry and Link, we already have two prime scorers and we didnít feel a third would make our team better.
ìWe wanted to develop guys like Kaine, Ben Jeffrey and Damon Rampton, and a third scorer would just take shots away from them.
ìWe brought Gabe in to play defence and to rebound. He has matched up well with opposition ëbigsí and done a lot of stuff that stats donít show.î
Sadly, the Mountain Airs wonít have a chance to continue their winning momentum, striking the bye in Round 11. Their next outing will be the televised return encounter with the Stars on March 24.
Dominion Finance NBL
Thursday, May 10
Te Awamutu
U Park It Waikato Pistons 86 (Kevin Smith 22, Luke Martin 22, Pero Cameron 12, Ben Hill 10) Appliance Shed Harbour Heat 75 (Hayden Allen 29, Daryl Cartwright 11)
Quarter 22-26
Halftime 45-46 (23-20)
Threequarter 60-55 (15-9)
Fulltime 86-75 (26-20)
Friday, May 11
Palmerston North
Appliance Shed Harbour Heat 98 (Hayden Allen 23, Oscar Forman 21, Brent Charleton 16) Inspire Net Manawatu Jets 70 (Reece Cassidy 24, Brandon Payton 19, Matt Te Huna 11)
Quarter 26-14
Halftime 53-30 (27-16)
Threequarter 72-49 (19-19)
Fulltime 98-70 (26-21)
Nelson
Blue Chip Nelson Giants 87 (Josh Pace 20, Ed Book 14, Jamil Terrell 14, Mika Vukona 13, Mike Fitchett 11, Chris Daniels 10) Cartridge World Otago Nuggets 62 (Branduinn Fullove 25, Justin Bailey 20)
Quarter 26-15
Halftime 41-34 (15-19)
Threequarter 66-42 (25-8)
Fulltime 87-62 (21-20)
Saturday, May 12
New Plymouth
TET Taranaki Mountain Airs 99 (Link Abrams 32, Garry Hill-Thomas 28, Kaine Hokianga 19, Gabe Stephenson 12) Youthtown Auckland Stars 84 (Dillon Boucher 20, Lindsay Tait 17, Josh Clark 16, Corey Hallett 11)
Quarter 22-29
Halftime 43-48 (21-19)
Threequarter 75-66 (32-18)
Fulltime 99-84 (24-18)
Wellington
Easy LPG Bay Hawks 109 (Andrew Rice 27, Paora Winitana 26, Kareem Johnson 24, Everard Bartlett 11) Century City Wellington Saints 105 (Bakari Hendrix 31, Troy McLean 17, Terrence Lewis 13, George Leafa 12, Nick Horvath 12) OT
Quarter 23-26
Halftime 50-50 (27-24)
Threequarter 68-68 (18-18)
Fulltime 93-93 (25-25)
Overtime 109-105 (16-12)
