A match made in basketball heaven could provide 40 minutes of hell for the Nelson Giants in Te Awamutu tonight.
Someone at basketball HQ decided it would be a good idea to open the season with a rematch of last year's final between the Waikato Pistons and the Fico Finance Nelson Giants.
Te Awamutu. Five syllables that send shivers up the spines of Nelson Giants fans everywhere.
Last season, Taranaki's basketball team put together a perfect record in the national league – played 16, lost 16. Now they've kept the streak alive with a loss to the Nelson Giants in round one of the 2010 Bartercard NBL.
He’s the face of the Nelson Giants, part of the basketball landscape in the city since 1993 and, as Phill Jones tells Nelson Mail basketball writer Pete McNae, there’s no place like home … mostly.
Hi Giants fans,
As the first home game of the season approaches rapidly I thought it wise to get some information up regarding tickets for those who don't know. The ticket prices and selling outlets are as follows:
It's a team game and he's just one man, but it's still a surprise that Mika Vukona arrived in Nelson in an aircraft, rather than astride a white charger.
Phill Jones' timing is impeccable.
After misfiring for most of the night with his usually lethal left hand, Jones, captain of the Fico Finance Nelson Giants, dropped two three-pointers and a short-range jumper to pull the home side to a comfortable nine-point lead heading into the final minutes against the Wellington Saints on Saturday night.
It's like a scene from a superhero movie.
Josh Bloxham entered the Nelson Giants' changing room at the end of last season as a spindly boy and this year stepped out as a man.
New Zealand's No1 basketball nursery is grooming another crop of future stars.
From the team that brought you Phill Jones, Mika Vukona and Mike Fitchett, along with putting the polish on the likes of Tony and Damon Rampton, Brad Riley and Judd Flavell, comes the new wave of players to wear the black of New Zealand alongside the blue of the Fico Finance Nelson Giants.
Marlborough's young basketballers had a chance to learn from one of New Zealand's best when former Tall Black Phill Jones visited Marlborough Lines Stadium.
Mike Fitchett's been around a while and he knows there's nowhere to hide on a basketball court.