Statement made.
A week before the playoffs, the Otago Nuggets delivered a sublime performance in Auckland last night.
They remained on top of the NBL table with a 109-83 win over the Auckland Huskies.
At times, the side has won with its offence and others with its defence, but last night it was slick at both ends.
The defence was smothering, the Huskies forced into tough shots. At the other end, the offence sparkled.
The ball movement was at times close to textbook, the side spacing the floor and fluidly passing the ball.
That earned it plenty of quality shots — and it made no mistake in hitting them to score 90 points in three quarters. The Nuggets shot 57% from the three-point line, knocking down 20 of 35.
But it was their depth in scoring that enabled to do that.
Jordan Ngatai had just two points on five shots, but the attention he attracted from the defence helped open up space for the others and he showed his intelligence and selflessness to recognise that.
That enabled the quartet of Jordan Hunt (31 points), Josh Aitcheson (22 points), Jarrod Kenny (20 points) and Kane Keil (16 points) to flourish, scoring their points on 63% shooting.
Nuggets coach Brent Matehaere was thrilled with that production and said Ngatai's gravity had been key.
He added the side had 30 assists, although its two-way performance had been pleasing.
"Back to back 83-point games [defensively], so our defence is locking in there," he said.
"I thought we gave them a couple of runs at times, but it was good.
"We had 20 made three-pointers. If we can do that through this campaign and continue to do that we'll be tough to beat.
"I'm really happy with how the boys are shooting the ball and long may it continue."
That shooting came right from the start. They scored 21 points in the first five minutes and hit seven of their first nine three-pointers.
At the other end, they were getting stops and the Huskies were unable to cover the Nuggets’ multiple shooters.
That trend flipped towards the end of the first quarter. Izayah Mauriohoohoo-Le'afa began hitting shots for the Huskies, while Tohi Smith-Milner also provided some scoring.
They cut the Nuggets’ lead to a single point.
However, the Nuggets hit back via threes to Aitcheson, Hunt and Jarrod Kenny. That sparked another Nuggets run, Aitcheson prominent both from deep and at the hoop. He finished the half with 18 points as the Nuggets took a 59-44 lead to halftime.
That continued in the third quarter. The defence locked in to restrict the Huskies and the Nuggets turned that into effective offence at the other end.
Keil was prominent, as was Hunt, both scoring efficiently to take the Nuggets to a commanding 90-64 lead at the last break.
In the early game, the Manawatu Jets beat the Franklin Bulls 99-84.
