Basketball: Nelson on top of NBL after weekend's games

The Nelson Giants have gone top of the NBL table after an 88-75 home win over the Harbour Heat last night.

Tall Black centre Ed Book shrugged off a calf injury to top score with 25 points for the Giants and grab 12 rebounds.

Meanwhile, Tall Black and Breakers skipper Pero Cameron led the Waikato Titans to their second win of the weekend with 22 points, five boards and three assists against the Taranaki Mountain Airs.

The Titans downed Taranaki 91-77 in New Plymouth to follow up their win over the Manawatu Jets on Friday.

Wrapping up the round, the Auckland Stars also completed a successful double header with an 84-73 defeat of the Otago Nuggets.

Having beaten the Canterbury Rams the day before, Auckland took maximum points out of their southern road trip thanks largely to Lindsay Tait's 28 points and four assists.

Nelson Giants 86 (Ed Book 25, Phill Jones 15, Darnell McCulloch 14, Lance Baker 14)

North Harbour Heat 75 (Valance McCarthy 26, Purnell Perry 16, Judd Flavell 15)

Halftime: 39-36

Waikato Titans 91 (P Cameron 22, G Cullen 19, M Chappell 17, G Joe 14)

Taranaki Mountain Airs 77 (L Abrams 22, M Tompson 16, D Rampton 14, W Banks 13)

Halftime: 41-31

Auckland 84 (Lindsay Tait 28, Casey Frank 17, Aaron Olson 15, Dillon Boucher 11)

Otago Nuggets 73 (Andrew Lattimer 19, Hayden Allen 14, Leonard King 13)

Halftime: 38-35

- Newstalk ZB and NZPA