Sharks aim for repeat win
Southland Sharks coach Paul Henare has ordered the same result, but a better performance, from Saturday’s game against the Canterbury Rams.
The Sharks host the Rams at ILT Stadium Southland less than a fortnight after beating them 89-83 in Christchurch.
‘‘It’s a big game for us against Canterbury. They are in that top four, that bubble of those teams, and this is a series-defining game,’’ Henare said.
‘‘[The last game] was a game of two halves. We came out and played really well in the first half and did some really good things. Then we allowed them to get back into the game by being very poor defensively. I think we’ve made some strides at the defensive end, we did well at that end against the Rangers. We are going to need to be very solid at the defensive end.’’
The Rams have had a four-win four-loss start to the season in their return to the National Basketball League and sit fourth on the table after eight games.
Since the last time the two teams met, the Rams have replaced forward Kyle Coston with shooting guard Jermaine Taylor.
The 28-year-old played 65 games in the NBA for the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings between 2009 and 2011.
He’s played in Spain, Israel and China before returning to the United States where he’s been trying to break back into the NBA.
‘‘They are going to go through some adjustment periods, especially offensively, and how they are going to get those extra points,’’ Henare said.
‘‘It’s going to be a similar battle, but a little bit different as well.’’
The fifth-placed Sharks have at least a game in hand over the four teams above them, and could make a move up the table if they can extend their two-game winning streak.
‘‘I never really get tied up in where you are at different stages of the season,’’ Henare said.
‘‘There’s 18 games, or whatever it is, and if you are there, you are there. We’ve just got to really focus on whether we are getting better as a group, as a team. I think we have had some decent strides.’’
The Zero Fees-sponsored Sharks are relatively injury free with Henare confident import Todd Blanchfield would recover from an ankle ‘tweak’ suffered during the week.