Basketball: Battle of the bridge turns up Heat on Stars

North Harbour haven't been drawing complaints about aggressive defence as they did during last season's national basketball league - and the Heat's coaching staff aren't happy about it.

As they head into tonight's game against Auckland, the Harbour players and staff are keenly aware they haven't won since 2002 and are still hurting after a seven-point loss in round one this year and a one-point defeat at home last season.

Neither side have injury worries ahead of tip-off at the North Shore Events Centre at 7pm.

For the Stars it is the second of three games in eight days but coach Kenny Stone said his team would rather be competing for real than training and it gave them a chance to achieve some consistency.

They are equal second on the ladder with three wins from four. "I'm happy that we're getting results but not that happy with how we're getting them. We get big leads and then we let the other team get back in it. As in other seasons we play very well in patches but we end up having to scrape home."

Stone agreed the Stars' defence needed improvement more than the offence, with several players getting into double figures in all games. "Everything we do is generated around our defence and right now we need to work on that."

Harbour's assistant coach, Alex Stojkovic, wanted the Heat to smarten up their defence too.

"We're not as aggressive as we were last year. It was our trademark and we want to get back to that. It's tough to play against."

The Heat had been training well, he said.

There was motivation in their run of seven consecutive losses to defending champs Auckland, "and you always want to beat the best".

Head to head

2003: Auckland won 94-89 and 90-74
2004: Auckland won 82-65 and 86-72
2005: Auckland won 82-81 and 81-63
2006: Auckland won 82-75