Basketball New Zealand

Thomas Abercrombie (Photosport)

Semi Finals of Bartercard NBL begin on Friday when the defending champs Waikato Pistons play the Fico Finance Nelson Giants in a rematch of the 2009 finals, while regular season winners Exodus Saints play host to the 0800 Easy LPG Bay Hawks

In the last decade the Waikato and Nelson have built up a strong rivalry in the playoffs playing each other six times since 2000, both winning three a piece.

Pistons clean swept the Giants in last year’s finals en route to championship number four. One of the key members from that Pistons side was Mike Fitchett who played one season for them before returning home to Nelson where he has an opportunity to make his third finals in four seasons.

The two team’s first meeting in a playoff game was back in 2000 when the Giants beat the Waikato in the semi final 105-100. Phill Jones and Tony Rampton were the only two current players to play in that game top scoring for their side with 25 and 24 respectively.

In 2002 the Pistons would seek revenge on the Giants beating them in the Grand Finals 85-83 in Nelson thanks to two made free throws from Dillon Boucher. Jones had a game high 31 points but missed a tough game winning three.

Waikato’s Hayden Allen who is averaging 15.3 points this season was the only member left from the Pistons side while Mika Vukona and Jones were in that Giants team.

Giants would defeat the Pistons 77-65 in the 2005 semi final, Vukona had 15 points and 16 rebounds.

In 2007 the Giants would pull off one of their biggest wins when Fitchett scored 34 points in the 109-103 win, which led to the Giants third championship.

Now in 2010 both teams each won their home games, but in Round One the Pistons did win thanks to 49 points from Eric Devendorf who was released from them mid season. Since then the Pistons have had injury problems with their points guards Carl Krauser who was released and now Rashad Tucker who suffered a hit in their last game.

Tucker played one of his best games in a Pistons uniforms with 10 points and nine rebounds against the Giants in Round 13. The big guard should play as well as league leading rebounder Alex Pledger who also missed the Pistons last game.

2009 forward of the year Thomas Abercrombie leads his team in points, steals, assists and blocks. Vukona who is a team mate of Abercrombie’s in the Tall Blacks will look to shut down the second year small forward.

Vukona came out firing in the first half against Southland Sharks scoring 13 points for a comfortable quarter final win.

However Friday’s semi against the Pistons will be a totally different kettle of fish with the likes of experienced winner Tony Ronaldson who has had vast experience in the Australian League playoff winning championships in 1992 and 1996.

0800 Easy LPG Bay Hawks travel from the North Shore where they won a tight 82-77 quarter final over the Harbour Heat to play their semi final against the Exodus Saints.

The two teams met in last year’s quarter finals, Saints edging out the Hawks in a tight 80-75 win. Leon Henry came off the bench for the Saints to score 15 in the win. Henry’s opposition for the game Chris Daniel also had a strong game in the quarterfinal with 14 points.

Hawks arguably has one of the deepest rosters in the league and it showed last night with Coach Shawn Dennis playing 10 of his players with nine of them getting at least 15 minutes. That should help the Hawks in particular with the amount of guards that can be used on the league’s highest back scoring of Eric Devendorf and Lindsay Tait who combine to average 42 points a game.

It will be interesting to see what kind of shape Devendorf will be in having missed the Saints last five games though an ankle injury.

Both teams have finished the season in good form with Saints winning five in a row while the Hawks seven of their last nine. The last time the two teams met was back in Round 11 when the Saints won 103-91, but it was only the first quarter that let the Hawks down losing it 27-11. In the last three quarters the Hawks outscored the Saints 80-74, Josh Pace scoring 17 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter.

The matchup between former Syracuse University players Pace and Devendorf will be an epic. Pace is a proven winner having won an NCAA National Championship with Syracuse and the 2007 NBL Title for the Nelson Giants. The 2007 Most Valuable Player continued this on Wednesday when he scored 28 in the quarter final win.

Devendorf the league leading scorer has also been a winner in his collegiate career and has continued this winning in the National League where he has amassed an 11-2 win/loss record.

Another battle in the guards will be between arguably two of the best point guards in the league this decade, Tait and Hawks Paul Henare. Tait has won his first ever assist title this season at over seven a game, while Henare is a five time assist champ winning it last season with an average of 6.5. The last time Hawks have beat the Saints at home was in 2007.

Friday, June 25

At TSB Arena, Wellington

Exodus Saints v 0800 Easy LPG Bay Hawks, 7.30pm

Referees – Dallas Pickering, Andy Thackray, Raewyn Willocks

At Hamilton Boys High, Hamilton

Waikato Pistons v Fico Finance Nelson Giants, 7.30pm

Referees – Tim Brown, Melony Wealleans, Gavin Whiu