KEY POINTS:
Just as they were a season ago, the Nelson Giants find themselves atop the National Basketball League after the first round.
The Giants got 44 points from their American imports Jamil Terrell and Michael Harrison as they completed the southern swing double-header with a 80-76 win over the Otago Nuggets at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin yesterday.
Terrell scored 22 and added 11 rebounds, five assists and two steals, while Harrison had 20 points, nine boards and four blocks as the defending champion Giants added to their 83-77 win over the Canterbury Rams in Christchurch on Saturday night.
"First-up for me as a coach, it's been a work in progress, so I'm stoked to come away with two wins," said Giants rookie head coach Chris Tupu, assistant to Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic last season.
The Giants got the win despite a 2-of-12 shooting performance from Tall Black Phill Jones, who joined the team on Saturday from the New Zealand Breakers and started from the bench.
A Nat Connell three in the closing seconds pulled the rebuilding Nuggets within two points, but Nelson point guard Michael Fitchett, who ended with 12 points, iced the game with two free throws.
American Jay Anderson scored a game-high 25 points, including three threes and nine rebounds, while Breakers development player Brent Charleton added 15 points, six boards, four assists and two steals.
The Nuggets trailed by as many as 12 in the first quarter but on the back of 12 second-quarter points from Anderson, Otago took a 34-33 lead midway through the period.
The lead flip-flopped in the third period and early in the fourth, until a Fitchett triple and three scoreless minutes from the Nuggets gave the Giants the lead for good.
Behind the Giants in the standings sit other first round winners, the Appliance Shed Harbour Heat and Century City Wellington Saints.
The Heat blazed to an 80-76 win over the Saints on Thursday night while the Saints beat the Youthtown Auckland Stars 85-81 on Saturday.
