Defending champions Saints lose again in NBL

These are unusual old times for the Wellington Saints.

The 12-time National Basketball League champions and last year’s title-winners find themselves in an 0-2 hole after the opening two rounds of the season.

A week after the ‘Baby Saints’ – missing most of their rotation players – were thumped 117-81 by the Southland Sharks, the Saints fell again, losing 83-61 to the Otago Nuggets in Dunedin on Saturday.

Wellington were boosted by American point guard Mike Smith and leading Kiwis Taane Samuel

and Jordan Ngatai, but it still wasn’t enough to propel them to their first win. The Saints still have Tom

Vodanovich and another import player to enter the mix, but won’t want this losing streak to drag on much longer.

Homegrown centre Sam Timmins was impressive for the Nuggets in the win, notching a game-high 26 points on 13-18 shooting. Timmins was restricted to six points in the first half, but got going after halftime, dropping 20 points.

The Saints host the unbeaten Auckland Tuatara in their next game in Wellington next Monday and can ill afford to drop to 0-3 and lose more ground on the competition pacesetters.

Last season’s beaten finalists, the Hawks, banked their first win of the season after an opening round loss, overcoming Taranaki 93-77 on Thursday.

The newly-minted Auckland Tuatara improved to 2-0 on the young season, toppling the Nelson Giants 86-77 at their Trafalgar Centre home in Nelson.

Big men Rob Loe (23 points and 12 rebounds) and Chris Johnson (19 points, 15 rebounds and five assists) were outstanding for Auckland, causing problems at both ends of the court.

The Franklin Bulls moved to 2-0 after pipping the Southland Sharks 79-75 in a close finish in Pukekohe on Saturday.

NBL veteran Leon Henry, who debuted in 2004, was critical in the final stages, knocking down a key three-pointer to put the Bulls ahead, followed by a layup.