Basketball: Flu strikes Harbour team, but spirits stay high

By PETER JESSUP

A bout of influenza is threatening to rob the North Harbour Kings of energy, if not enthusiasm, before the NBL Battle of the Bridge tomorrow night.

The team have not been training because several players have been struck down by the virus, but there is no lack of intensity.

Both teams have lost star players - the Kings, Kirk Penney, and Auckland, Pero Cameron - but still have the core of sides who have faced each other for several seasons.

Both made it to the finals last year, Auckland finishing first and Harbour third.

"It's grown into something with a real edge to it," Auckland coach Tab Baldwin said.

"There have been incidents and altercations, plenty of rivalry.

"Tracy [Carpenter, the Harbour coach] and I have to minimise the impact of all that, but maximise the incentive."

Carpenter sees Auckland's import centre, Ben Pepper, the tallest man in the league at 2.11m (6ft 11 1/2in), as the one they have to stop.

"We have to contain him, but then they have other weapons," he said, noting particularly the brigade of talented young guards.

Kings veteran Larry Hubbard, at 2.08, is the only one close to Pepper's size but Pepper is aged 25, Hubbard 40.

Baldwin is not happy with his team's combinations and is working on them, building teamwork that can be applied in various situations and stages of the game rather than relying on Pepper or any individual.

Yesterday he watched last year's finals series on video and was struck by how far his team, without Cameron, had to go to reach the heights of 2000.

Tomorrow night at the North Shore Events Centre it could be that the impression the coaches have made on their young players and the way they shape up will be the deciding factor.

Players in this category include Milos Pejovic, Cameron Stuart and Chris Renata at the Kings, and Lindsay Tait, Daniel Barritt and Reece Cassidy from Auckland.

Waikato's Jeff Green is another struggling to get his side to play co-odinated ball. "It's been ugly, but we're over the moon," he said of their four-win start. They host the Palmerston North Jets in Hamilton tomorrow night.

He sees Palmerston North's big, third-season import, Ed Book, almost Pepper-sized, as the danger and wants his Titans to stop former New Plymouth captain Kent Mori getting Book the ball.

Otago host Canterbury and Nelson go to Wellington tomorrow, and the Jets stop off at Hawkes Bay on their way home on Sunday to complete the round.