Airs next as Sharks after ninth win in a row
The Southland Sharks have won eight games in a row and are joint leaders in the National Basketball League. The Taranaki Airs, meanwhile, have lost all 11 games in 2015 to date and sit last on the NBL table.
It comes as surprise, therefore, that the TAB have made Taranaki $10 outsiders to win at ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill on Friday night.
Sharks coach Paul Henare doesn’t not buy into those odds, however. Earlier in the season Henare described Taranaki as the best winless team he’d seen. Southland desperately want to continue the momentum they’ve have built during their last eight games and are not about to be blind-sided by Taranaki.
‘‘We had a tough game up there when we played them. I just finished watching their game in Canterbury last week. They started the game 16-0 up on Canterbury, so if you give them a sniff they are going to play their buts off, and they’ve got talent to go with it,’’ Henare said.
‘‘We’ve set our own standards now, about the team we want to be and the level we want to play at, so whoever we are playing it shouldn’t change that. It is going to be the challenge going into this game.’’
The last of the Sharks’ wins was against Wellington last Monday when they made an impressive statement with a 108-76 win.
As far as players go, it was veteran guard Kevin Braswell who made the biggest impression. He scored 33 points and racked up 12 assists in what was a masterclass. While the players like Todd Blanchfield and Tai Wesley grabbed most of the headlines through the early part of the season, Braswell went about his business with little fanfare.
‘‘I think before the weekend he was averaging 18 points and about five assists, which is really good numbers. I guess because Todd and Tai have been playing so well maybe we just got use to him performing each week,’’ Henare noted.
‘‘He was outstanding the whole weekend. He had 21 assists in two games and he did a fantastic job making the right plays at the right times."
Henare said James Paringatai, who started the season with a calf injury, was building nicely this season.
‘‘He is starting to get into a real groove, he played 17 minutes against Wellington which would have been a season high for him. So just to have that extra body is invaluable.’’
Henare hoped the Sharks’ winning streak would spur the Southland public to turn up and watch them against Taranaki.
‘‘Hopefully the word has got out that the boys are playing at a pretty good level. We always love coming back home and playing in front of our crowd.’’