Basketball: Stars on track for fourth title

The Stars' Casey Frank hammers another nail in the Giants' coffin yesterday. Jeff Brass / Getty Images

The Auckland Stars took a stranglehold on the National League title yesterday when they dumped Nelson 84-69.

The Giants are the only team to have beaten Auckland this season and that was in Nelson.

The Stars play Taranaki in New Plymouth next week, second-placed Hawkes Bay away in a fortnight then Waikato in Hamilton before enjoying a run of home games to the season's end - and seem set for home playoffs and a fourth title.

The game at ASB Stadium yesterday had all the intensity of a playoff, but after allowing the Stars an early run to 19-6 and then clawing back to 21-19 at the first break, Nelson never managed to get near the lead.

It was Nelson's execution that let them down. They shot just 14 of 38 from the field in the first half and improved that to 28 from 69 for the game. But that was down to Auckland's tight and energetic defence, with Dillon Boucher hot on the steals and blocks.

The lead stretched out to 42-29 with two minutes to half time when the Giants called time out. They were relying on Eric Freeman pushing inside or points from fast breaks, but the game required more effort and it was the Stars who delivered that. Lindsay Tait bounced down the last seconds before half-time then drove to the basket with two seconds remaining.

Some would call it arrogance, others that he needs to show more of it, but Tait led the Stars in a more structured game, scoring 14 by the main break and the high-score of 27 all-up.

The Giants had started without Michael Fitchett, who has an ankle injury and in the third quarter Josh Pace rolled his ankle and the visitors began to run out of steam. Frustration set in and the foul count rose against them. The Stars collected points both from the free-throw line and from fast breaks and finished that way, Boucher throwing a court-long ball to Tait, who dunked it.

Nelson coach Nenad Vucinic refused to blame the absence of Fitchett and a bench shortened to three against Auckland's depth. "When one of your main men is out it hurts but we just didn't have the intensity."

He agreed the physicality and pace of the game was similar to that of Auckland-Nelson playoff games fought out at the same venue in the 1990s, but said: "We lost most of those.

"We showed a lot of weakness both on offence and defence and that's a concern," he said. "The execution was not there. It is a big mental and physical challenge to win playoff games and we are not in that area yet."

On Friday the Heat were without Brent Charleton due to an Achilles problem, and so lacked scoring options. Troy McLean, whose name had been mistakenly been left off the Tall Blacks squad named mid-week, hit 28 but the Nelson forwards engineered a 24-16 lead in the first quarter and kept the visitors ahead throughout. Import Eric Freeman shot 37 and Mika Vukona 25.

Wellington were pushed to overtime for the third Friday night in a row before slumping 83-80 to the Manawatu Jets, just one win from those three games. Brendon Polyblank hit a three-pointer with 18 seconds left but Terrence Lewis missed a chance to steal the game. Aussie guard Brad Davidson led the Jets with 36 points, scoring at critical times to make the difference.

The Saints have some playoff hope but those of the Heat and Waikato are gone, the Pistons slumping 60-81 to Hawkes Bay.

Waikato's shooting percentage was very poor and when import Field Williams and Breakers guard Everard Barlett fired to lead a 24-9 run in the third quarter the Pistons had no answer.

So they have just two wins from eight and hang at the bottom of the ladder with Otago, who were 87-82 losers to Taranaki in Dunedin. Import Branduinn Fullove had 23 points and 12 rebounds and Tall Black forward Miles Pearce was good again, 13 points and 11 rebounds, but the Nuggets still have just the one win from nine.