Basketball: Punters may take a slam-dunking on close finals

By PETER JESSUP

Basketball New Zealand should have no worries about players betting on the finals series that tips off in Auckland tonight, with the four sides so close it would take a very brave or very foolish punter to put the house on anything.

Waikato and Nelson, who play the first semi at 6.30 pm, and Auckland and North Harbour, who meet at 8.30, are all confident, worried only by the usual end-of-season injury niggles.

It is the most even finals series for years and bodes well for the Tall Blacks' trip to Sydney, with most of the squad playing at the North Shore Events Centre tonight.

Harbour captain Brendon Cathie-Pongia rested yesterday, had a massage, then was off to watch the lower-grade finals of the Conference Basketball League, figuring it was too late to work on any deficiencies and that the most important thing was to relax.

"The team is in good shape, we've had a great week of training and the thing now is to take in the atmosphere but not to get over-hyped."

Harbour had spent much time reviewing last month's 69-89 loss to tonight's opponents Auckland and knew they could reverse the result, Cathie-Pongia said.

"We shot around 34 per cent in that game - we can do better than that. The season starts again now. This is what it's all about."

The Kings' captain, who has been to the finals four times but is yet to win one, is playing the best basketball of his career but will not be happy without a title.

"It's not good enough to get to the finals and think that's it. I'm here to win it, to make this my best year ever," said the 30-year-old.

He attracted some fire after predicting that Harbour would dump Auckland out of the finals in their game last month. There were no rash statements about winners yesterday.

"I would hate to pick it," Cathie-Pongia said of their semi. "It depends on who turns up to play."

Auckland's problem is rearranging their offence after the sudden departure of centre Matt Barnett.

Pero Cameron will have to take a big hand in organisation of the attack. Should he get in foul trouble the Rebels will be in scoring trouble.

Waikato had a terrible practice on Wednesday and scheduled a tough session last night to make up lost ground.

"I had to stop them midway through to get on their case," coach Jeff Green said of the Wednesday-night run.

"We're a team that needs to practise well to be ready."

He called Nelson favourites, citing their shooting firepower and Waikato's lack of performance when they are picked as top dogs.

"Nelson play a similar game to Auckland - and Auckland are our bogy team," Green said.

Defence is the key for the Warriors. They have the advantage of being the least-affected by team changes throughout the season and will need all the combinations they have worked up in order to shut down a Giants side who will attack from everywhere.

Giants' veteran Nenad Vucinic reckons defence will win the title. "All the teams can score - it's a matter of who comes to play the most fundamental basketball."

The 35-year-old came out of retirement for this season and it is a measure of his commitment and competitiveness that he now finds himself in the Tall Blacks for the Olympics.

"This is definitely it - it's a great way to go out."

The Giants have had three games since sacking import James Hamilton, and Vucinic reckons they have filled the gap.

"I don't think we'll have trouble scoring," Vucinic said.

"But we've slipped a bit on defence in the past couple of games.

"Maybe we weren't motivated as well as we might have been against Hawkes Bay and Otago, but we're evenly matched with Waikato and I think it's going to be tough and entertaining - maybe not that pretty, though."

The final is at the stadium at 8.15 tomorrow night.

North Harbour Kings: Brendon Cathie-Pongia (capt), Mark Dickel (Tall Black), Purnell Perry (import), Robert Wilson (import), Joseph Amos, Steve Campbell, Dylan Chase, Nathan Foote, Ronnie Joyner, Jeff Niwa, Brad Riley, Jonathon Southey, Robert Tuilave, Glynn Turner.

Auckland Rebels: Dillon Boucher (capt), Pero Cameron (Tall Black), Paul Henare (Tall Black), Bryan Christiansen (import), Daryl Cartwright, Prem Krishna, Mason Le Pou, Simon Mesritz, Haydn Smyth, Kenny Stone, Lindsay Tait, Brett Wadsworth, Daniel Barritt.

Waikato Warriors: Riki Strother (capt), Adrian Boyd (import), Clifton Bush (import), Tony Brown, David Hopoi, Daryl Johnson, Rangi Kowhai, Earle Smith, Paul Strettel, Paora Tepaki, Chris Tupu, Leon Tuala, Nathan Carroll.

Nelson Giants: Nenad Vucinic (capt, Tall Black), Phil Jones (Tall Black), Tony Rampton (Tall Black), Ralph Lattimore (Tall Black), Damon Johnson (import), Michael Fitchett, Judd Flavell, Tim Johnson, Lance Toma, Mika Vukona, Randall Tolo.