Giant Finn Delany comes up but Manawatu Jet Kuran Iverson is lining up the ball at Springvale Stadium on Thursday night.
Giant Finn Delany comes up but Manawatu Jet Kuran Iverson is lining up the ball at Springvale Stadium on Thursday night.
The Go Media Manawatu Jets flew as far as they could, but were eventually crushed 90-71 by the Mike Pero Nelson Giants in the New Zealand Basketball League (NBL) on Thursday night.
Both teams started cold on a chilly night at Springvale Stadium in Whanganui, the first three shots thrown up were duds, until the Giants' Tohi Smith-Milner made an easy bucket.
The Giants big men including Smith-Milner, captain Sam Dempster and Jerry Evan Jr were all impressive – crashing the boards and creating good space for their team.
The main beneficiary of their efforts was Damon Heuir, who led all scorers with 24 points, including an explosive seven-in-a-row to start the fourth quarter.
The Jets didn't play like a team sitting one place off the bottom of the NBL ladder, they just couldn't capitalise on the good work they did defensively and how well they moved the ball.
"I felt we actually played pretty well in the first half, we generated quite a few good looks around the rim, but we couldn't convert them," said Jets coach Tim McTamney.
"Defensively, we worked on a lot of things over the week, we talked about doing a better job on the defensive boards and we did that, but the bottom line is, you have to put the ball in the hole and we didn't do that."
At the end of the first quarter, the Jets were down by eight points and by halftime their deficit had increased to 13.
A key point of difference throughout the game was in the perimeter shooting, as Tall Black Finn Delany hit the first three pointer of the game for the Giants in the second quarter.
As for the Jets, they created the opportunities, but as McTamney lamented, his team just could not bank them until it was too late and Theo Johnson nailed a three in the fourth quarter.
Daishon Knight, who threw himself into everything all game, hit another three for the Jets moments later, but his tally of 23 points was not enough to get them home.
A standout from McTamney's perspective was 19-year-old Callum McRae, in his last game for the team before taking up a scholarship in the United States.
"He has improved a great deal throughout the season, he'll get better through his experience in the States, they'll work on his conditioning and his strength, he'll come back to New Zealand a really good basketball player.
"I wish him all the best, we all do, we're going to miss him on Saturday that's for sure."
A short tunaround sees Manawatu jet down to Christchurch, where they will play the Canterbury Rams on Saturday night.
McTamney said because of the short time between games, his squad would focus on rest and recovery before the contest and hoped the officials would improve too.
"The frustration for me is what was allowed to happen on the open floor, Nelson were frustrated too, they had some ridiculous calls called on them," McTamney said.
"We had some ridiculous calls on us too and more importantly, there were a lot of no calls and they wonder why players get frustrated.
