2009 NBL Round 2 (March 19-22) 0800 Easy LPG Bay Hawks v Appliance Shed Harbour Heat Century City Wellington Saints v ecogise Nelson Giants Waikato Pistons v Devon Dynamos Taranaki McDonalds Manawatu Jets v Appliance Shed Harbour Heat Christchurch Cougars v ecogise Nelson Giants Youthtown Auckland Stars v Devon Dynamos Taranaki 0800 Easy LPG Bay Hawks v McDonalds Manawatu Jets www.basketball.org.nz NBL Preview Round Two Round Two will provide some interesting match-ups with all nine teams playing this week, five of which have double headers Opening games in the round will start on Thursday March 19 and conclude on Sunday the 22nd. Thursday night begins with 0800 Easy LPG Hawks hosting the Appliance Shed Harbour Heat. After 33 points in his NBL debut Cory Webster will have his work cut out for him when he matches up against Hawks guards Jeremy Kench and former Heat man Jarrod Kenny. New import big men John Thomas and Chuck Bailey have arrived for the Hawks so expect some big dunks and physical defence being added to the new look Bay Hawks. In the other Thursday night action the ecogise Nelson Giants will travel to Wellington to play in the inaugural Shallcrass Cup game against the Century City Saints. The cup is named after former NBL player Tony Shallcrass who played four seasons each for the Saints and Giants. He was a member of the Exchequer Saints teams that won the NBL championships in 1985, 87 and 88. The Cup is in recognition of his parents who had given a lot to basketball and in particular were very hospitable in feeding the Saints when they travelled to Nelson. The Shallcrass Cup will be played for at each regular season game between the Saints and Giants with the team holding the trophy at the end of the season taking the honours for that year. The Giants will then travel to Christchurch to play the Cougars who played very well for the first three quarters only to fall short of defeating the defending champs Waikato Pistons 93-82. It will be a tough game for the Giants with the likes of Paora Winitana and Paul Henare having a week off training under their belt with their new team. On Friday night the Pistons play their first home game against the Devon Dynamos Taranaki at the YMCA in Hamilton. After a game high 20 points against the Christchurch Cougars Adam Ballinger will be ready to top that when he matches up against the crafty Link Abrams who has played over 100 NBL games to nearly average a double/double in his career (21.4 points and 9.8 rebounds) It will be a tough road double header for the Dynamos who then travel north to play the Youthtown Auckland Stars in Auckland on Saturday night. The Stars will hopefully have the help of Hayden Allen who did not play in their 93-81 loss last week to the Heat. Stars have a strong front line with Dillon Boucher, Casey Frank and import Blagoj Janev all playing well against the Heat. Finally the McDonalds Manawatu Jets also have a double header on the weekend, playing the Heat at home on Saturday and then travel to play the Hawks in the last game of the round. Marcel Jones looks to be a quality import after amassing a double/double of 29 points and 13 rebounds in his debut for the Jets. Motivation won’t be needed for Jets guard Aidan Daly when he plays against his former team on Sunday. Daly spent 6 seasons with the Hawks winning a championship with them in 2006 and averaged nearly 11 points and 2 steals for the Hawks last season. www.basketball.org.nz THIS WEEK 2009 NBL Round Two Thursday March 19 Easy LPG Hawks v Appliance Shed Harbour Heat, Pettigrew Arena, 7pm Referees – Melony Wealleans, Shane Nikora, Wayne Start Century City Wellington Saints v ecogise Nelson Giants, TSB Bank Arena, 7pm Referees – Gavin Whiu, Yalla Edwards, Joe Hemi Friday March 20 Waikato Pistons v Devon Dynamos Taranaki, Hamilton YMCA, 7.30pm Referees – Gavin Whiu, Kelly McLeod, Grant Flanagan Saturday March 21 McDonalds Manawatu Jets v Appliance Shed Harbour Heat, Arena Manawatu, 5pm Referees: Melony Wealleans, Sean Cronin, Yalla Edwards Christchurch Cougars v ecogise Nelson Giants, Cowles Stadium, 7pm Referees – Gavin Zimmerman, Raewyn Willocks, Raelene Forde Youthtown Auckland Stars v Devon Dynamos Taranaki, ASB Stadium, 7.30pm Referees – Dallas Pickering, Kelly McLeod, Kieran Udy Sunday March 22 Easy LPG Bay Hawks v McDonalds Manawatu Jets, Pettigrew Green Arena, 5pm Referees – Gavin Whiu, Shane Nikora, Wayne Start Visit www.basketball.org.nz for LIVE score updates LAST WEEK Dominion Finance NBL - Round One Century City Wellington Saints 97 (Mike Efevberha 33, Troy McLean 18, Arthur Trousdell 15) McDonalds Manawatu Jets 86 (Marcel Jones 29, Aidan Daly 15, Ben Hill 11) Appliance Shed Harbour Heat 93 (Corey Webster 33, Mychal Green 18, Chaz Spicer 14) Youthtown Auckland Stars 81 (Blagoj Janev 25, Casey Frank 20, Dillon Boucher 18) Waikato Pistons 82 (Adam Ballinger 20, Justin Bailey 15, Puke Lenden 15) Christchurch Cougars 73 (Trenton Wurtz 19, Tim Behrendoff 19, Gerard Bowden 13) STANDINGS Team P W L Win % GB Pts Harbour Heat 1 1 0 100 0 2 Wellington Saints 1 1 0 100 0 2 Waikato Pistons 1 1 0 100 0 2 Taranaki Dynamos 0 0 0 0 1 0 Bay Hawks 0 0 0 0 1 0 Nelson Giants 0 0 0 0 1 0 Christchurch Cougars 1 0 1 0 1 0 Manawatu Jets 1 0 1 0 1 0 Auckland Stars 1 0 1 0 1 0 Win % - Win Percentage, GB – Games Back PLAYER OF THE WEEK Grant Chapman, the National Teams & Communications Manager for BBNZ will again this season be compiling the 2009 NBL Player Power Rankings and announcing the NBL Player of the Week. The first 2009 NBL Player of the Week is…. Mike Efevberha (Century City Saints) 33 points (4/11 3pt )8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 Steals in 38 minutes against McDonalds Manawatu Jets in a 97-86 win Mike Efevberha has won player of the week in Round One of the 2009 STAT LEADERS NBL narrowly ahead of Stars player Dillon Boucher and the Harbour Points Heat’s Corey Webster. Efevberha showed his speed and athleticism Corey Webster (Heat) 33.0 against the Jets in his debut for the Saints with both his offensive and Mike Efevberha (Saints) 33.0 defensive skills by tallying 33 points and 8 rebounds, 3 steals Marcel Jones (Jets) 29.0 and 3 block shots. Dillon Boucher was very unlucky not to win player of the week honors. Rebounds If his Stars team had won then he would have been player of the week. Dillon Boucher (Stars) 18.0 Boucher got a rare triple double by scoring 18 points, dishing 10 Casey Frank (Stars) 14.0 assists and grabbing 18 rebounds. In the same game Marcel Jones (Jets) 13.0 Corey Webster was also unlucky to miss out on POW honors. In his Assists debut NBL game he scoed 33 points (10/20 FG, 4/8 3PT) and Dillon Boucher (Stars) 10.0 grabbing 8 rebounds. Webster will be the sure front runner for rookie of Paul Henare (Cougars) 7.0 the year. 3 Tied 4.0 Steals Paul Henare (Cougars) 7.0 PLAYER POWER RANKINGS Justin Bailey (Pistons) 6.0 1. Mike Efevberha (Century City Wellington Saints) Mychal Green (Cougars) 4.0 2. Dillon Boucher* (Youthtown Auckland Stars) 3. Marcel Jones (McDonalds Manawatu Jets) Blocks 4. Corey Webster*(Appliance Shed Harbour Heat) Mike Efevberha (Saints) 3.0 5. Tim Behrendorff (Christchurch Cougars) Tim Behrendorff (Cougars) 3.0 6. Blagoj Janev (Youthtown Auckland Stars) Blagoj Janev (Stars) 3.0 7. Arthur Trousdell*(Century City Wellington Saints) 8. Justin Bailey (Waikato Pistons) 9. Casey Frank*(Youthtown Auckland Stars) FG % (Min 5 FGA/PG) 10. Paul Henare*(Christchurch Cougars) Dillon Boucher (Stars) 70.0 Tim Behrendorff (Cougars) 66.7 The Next 10 . Hugh Quinlivan (Saints) 66.7 Puke Lendon*(Waikato Pistons), Trenton Wurtz (Christchurch Cougars), Mychal Green (Appliance Shed Harbour Heat), Luke 3pt % (Min 3 3PA/PG) Martin*(Century City Wellington Saints), Mike Fitchett*(Waikato Mychal Green (Heat) 80.0 Pistons), Chaz Spicer (Appliance Shed Harbour Heat), Troy Tim Behrendorff (Cougars) 75.0 McLean*(Century City Wellington Saints, Ben Hill*(McDonalds Blagoj Janev (Stars) 75.0 Manawatu Jets), Aidan Daly*(McDonalds Manawatu Jets), Hugh Quinlivan*(Century City Wellington Saints) FT % (Min 3 FTA/PG) Michael Fitchett (Pistons) 100.0 * Non-restricted players Gerard Bowden (Cougars) 83.3 Chaz Spicer (Heat) 83.3 Visit www.basketball.org.nz for Top-50 Player Power Rankings www.basketball.org.nz .