Huskies aim to halt horrid losing streak

THE Huskies men will welcome back star Tad Dufelmeier from NZNBL duties this weekend, but Mark Chivers wants to avoid leaning on the guard too heavily as they strive to stop the wobbles.

Without Dufelmeier and fellow point guard Sam Youl, the Huskies were no match for the North West Thunder last Saturday, crashing to a 75-54 defeat — their third straight.

Dufelmeier, who impressed on the Southern Huskies’ road trip coming off the bench, bolsters the back court but it is inside the paint the coach knows his side must improve to defeat Knox at the Kingborough Sports Centre.

Thunder centre Paul Campbell — who averages just 11.2 points and 7.8 rebounds this NBL1 season — had a massive double-double of 21 points (10-12 shooting) and 21 rebounds, while Hobart did itself no favours by shooting a woeful 28 per cent from the floor as it managed only 32 points as a team in the first three quarters.

“We threw it at Jack [Stanwix] and Jalen [Adams, for point guard duties] and they did all right … we shot the ball so poorly and once again their bigs just monstered us,” Chivers said.

“We just can’t defend bigs for some reason. The big Campbell kid, he has had two career games both times he has played us.

“We got good looks but we only went at 28 per cent in the first half, you can’t win games like that.”

Armed with a 5-8 record, the Huskies sit in 14th spot on the ladder but are only two games outside the top eight if they can get some momentum rolling.

“They [Knox] have a good team … they are going to be a good challenge for us, you can’t concentrate on taking someone out of the game, you have to take the lot of them out. It will be a good challenge defensively but I know we can be competitive against them.” HOUSTON Rockets’ NBA All-Star Chris Paul reportedly wants out.

He says his relationship with MVP candidate James Harden is “unsalvageable.”

According to Yahoo Sports, Paul approached management to demand a trade after the season-ending loss to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals.

Moving Paul and his threeyear, $180 million contract will not be easy, though general manager Daryl Morey has been open about having trade discussions involving all of his players other than Harden this off-season.

“It can’t be fixed,” a league source told Yahoo Sports about the Harden-Paul partnership.

The rift between Paul and Harden became so severe that after going “nearly two months” during the season without speaking to one another, Harden followed suit with a “him or me” demand of his own to Morey, Yahoo reported yesterday.

In addition, Harden has refused to communicate with Paul this off-season, according to the report.

“There’s no respect at all, on either side,” a source told Yahoo Sports.

“They need to get away from one another. Chris doesn’t respect James’s standing in the league, and James doesn’t respect the work Chris has put in to this point.”

Centre Clint Capela could also be traded by the Rockets, as could Eric Gordon or P.J. Tucker.

Capela signed a five-year, $131 million contract before last season.

The Swiss Capela turned 25 in May, after averaging 16.6, 12.7 rebounds (fifth in the NBA) and 1.5 blocks per game in 2018-19.

Among teams thought to have interest in Capela are the New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers.