Both sides will be desperate to settle the score on and off the hardwood when the contest resumes at ILT Velodrome in Invercargill tonight.
The Nuggets got the upper hand in Dunedin last month, winning 80-68. Despite much pre-match banter, the game was played in good spirit until the final moments.
Frustration got the better of Sharks centre Craig Bradshaw and he tossed Nuggets captain Mark Dickel aside as if he was swatting away a pesky insect.
Nuggets centre Antoine Tisby took exception and got himself involved in some push and shove with Bradshaw. The pair had to be restrained by their team-mates.
Meanwhile, Dickel, who had tumbled to the floor, was quickly to his feet and chose that moment to do a bit a show-boating, busting out a jig of some description much to the delight of the home crowd.
Sharks coach Richard Dickel, Mark's older brother, made certain the rematch would have plenty of feeling, taking the opportunity to fire a shot at the Nuggets camp in the media.
"Certain players on their team didn't shake our hands and were running around rubbing it in guys' faces," Richard told the Southland Times.
"That's not what you do. That's a little bit distasteful.
"That's going to linger in our minds for a long time. We've won here twice and we've never carried on the way they carried on."
Nuggets coach Alf Arlidge was keen to play down the rivalry but agreed it added spice to what is becoming a much-anticipated fixture.
"Any kind of rivalry is good for a sport if it gets the crowd involved," Arlidge said.
"But, personally, it is just like any other game this year which we are looking to win. We have to do better than our last outing against the [Manawatu] Jets and just really want to keep pushing forward and keep improving."
The Nuggets were in a good contest with the Jets late last month but fell away in the last five minutes to lose by 19 points.
It is his role to get the ball in the hands of Tisby or Akeem Wright. The pair combined for 36 points and a staggering 30 rebounds in the 12-point win against the Sharks.
The Nuggets will once again look to assert themselves under the rim and to get up and down the court quickly.
"They are a team which does not get up and down the court as quick as we do so we want to push the ball and give ourselves some easy opportunities in the open court," Arlidge said.
The Nuggets' outside shooting game lacks finesse, so the Sharks will look to get parity under the glass and hope the likes of Kevin Braswell and Dion Prewster can find their range. The Sharks shot poorly in Dunedin, landing 23 of their 72 attempts from the floor.
The Sharks have spent the first month of the National Basketball League playing away while waiting for the Velodrome to become available and their management hopes to attract a parochial crowd of 1800-plus.
There will be at least two people with divided loyalties in the crowd. Former Nuggets coach Carl Dickel and his wife, Sharon, have made the trip from Australia to visit family and watch their sons, Richard and Mark, jostle for family bragging rights.
Nuggets v Sharks
ILT Velodrome, tonight, 7pm
Otago Nuggets: Mark Dickel (captain), Akeem Wright, Antoine Tisby, Sam King, Riki Buckrell, James Ross, Matt Trueman, Olly Smith, Damon Cleverley, Steve Robinson, Tim Ingham, Ethan Carruthers, Tom Allan.
Southland Sharks: Kevin Braswell, Shaun Tilby, Dion Prewster, Larry Abney, Craig Bradshaw, Dan Peck, James Paringatai, Jimmy Todd, Paratene McLeod, Andrew Wheeler, Rhys Smolenski, Tim Campbell.
