Taranaki Airs deliver NBL statement beating Giants, Saints
The Taranaki Airs are having their best season in years with finals basketball within touching distance.
Traditionally cellar-dwellers, the Airs have been vastly improved in 2022 in what has been one of the most even National Basketball League seasons in record.
Taranaki showed again why they mean business, knocking over the top of the table Nelson Giants 85-75 on their home court on Saturday, then beating defending champions Wellington Saints 111-105 yesterday in the capital.
The Airs’ memorable win over Wellington could prove the death knell in the Saints’ top six finals hopes. The Saints, 12-time NBL champions, slump to 4-8 and will need to win almost all their remaining games to avoid missing the finals for the first time since 2007.
Taranaki are firmly on track for the finals. Their successful road trip lifts them to third equal on the table and a 7-5 record.
Veteran American swingman Anthony Hilliard, the NBL’s leading scorer, was pivotal in the win over the Saints, starring with 41 points and seven rebounds. The welltravelled 36-year-old has been a sensational recruit for the Airs and must be in the MVP conversation.
Taranaki have endured plenty of rough campaigns, finishing bottom last year with a 2-15 record. In 2015, they suffered the embarrassment of a winless 0-18 campaign, and won just 10 of 54 games between 2017-19.
After thumping the Manawatū Jets 131-100 last weekend, the Airs carried that confidence forward, upsetting the table-topping Giants on Saturday.
They collected the Brian Rampton Memorial Trophy, which is up for grabs when Taranaki and Nelson meet in NBL games to honour the late father of former Tall Blacks Tony and Damon Rampton.
Taranaki restricted the Giants to 75 points on 35% shooting from the field (29/82), while also beating them up on the boards (54 rebounds to 41).
The Auckland Tuatara profited from the Giants’ loss, going 2-0 on their southern swing to jump back to the top of the table with a 9-5 mark.
The Tuatara made a double splash yesterday, announcing the signing of Tall Blacks great Kirk Penney as an injury replacement for the rest of the season.
The Tuatara added to bottom placed Southland Sharks’ woes, winning 89-77 in Invercargill on Friday, then crushed the Otago Nuggets 105-74 in Dunedin yesterday.
The Franklin Bulls’ resurgence continued, overcoming the Canterbury Rams 86-76 in Pukekohe on Saturday to move to 6-5.
Playing without leading Kiwi guard Corey Webster, the Bulls still managed to earn the win against a Rams’ side, missing star import Sunday Dech and Max Darling.
In Tuesday’s early game, the Jets, another of the NBL’s success stories, edged the Hawke’s Bay Hawks 90-87 to remain in the finals hunt at 5-7.