Because the Otago Nuggets out-thought, outlasted and outscored the Wellington Saints 103-94 in front of close to a full house at the Edgar Centre on Saturday.
A crowd of 2350 people were treated to quite a show.
Classy American point guard JaQuori McLaughlin had his best outing in the Nuggets’ singlet.
The 25-year-old poured in 31 points, made eight assists and snatched three steals.
Michael Harris had another quality shift. He was good for 21 points.
Todd Withers hit some big shots on his way to 18 points. He landed five three-pointers and most of them were awfully timely.
And Sam Timmins, well, he stacked up another 15 points and 14 rebounds to rack up another double-double.
The Nuggets are now 7-0 this season and stretched their winning streak in the National Basketball League to 12 games.
"We’ve talked a lot about mana and making sure we display that, and we’ve come out and matched the intensity of what is a good team," coach Brent Matehaere said.
"But our guys absorbed that pressure and, at the right time, showed the intelligence and the ability to get stops and make sure they got themselves in the right place to win."
Withers climbed high and slapped in an alley-oop. McLaughlin clocked the assist.
It was a rare highlight, though. The Saints pulled out to a 20-11 lead.
The Nuggets managed to cut the deficit to three in the last minute with some smart play.
McLaughlin subbed back in with the sole purpose of driving to the basket and grabbing a bucket. He drew the foul as well and nailed the extra.
Then Matt Bardsley went to work on Kyle Adnam and drew a charge.
The Nuggets got the ball back with about six seconds and Robbie Coman hit a three-pointer from the corner. It was a big play.
The Nuggets started the second quarter strongly.
Timmins made a lay-up, Withers hit a three to give the home side the lead, and McLaughlin drilled back-to-back-to-back three pointers.
Darcy Knox brought some energy with a length-of-the-court run to make a lay-up.
He got the foul too but missed out on the bonus.
The Nuggets made a rare defensive error and left Tom Vodanovich (29 points) alone at the top of the key and he sank a triple.
But the Nuggets made amends with three-pointers to Harris and Timmins.
Timmins looped in a buzzer-beater to give the home side a 52-44 lead at halftime.
That handy lead was all but gone in two minutes and completely erased in three.
The Saints went on an 11-2 scoring run.
The Nuggets’ shooting touch deserted them until Harris hit a tough three to break the curse.
McLaughlin followed it up with a brace of three-pointers and Timmins slammed down a dunk.
They got out of a difficult quarter with a quality finish to the quarter ... again.
Withers hit a trio of three-pointers in the final quarter and McLaughlin kept driving to the hoop and drawing fouls.
"I’m just so impressed with the guys and the fortitude they showed," Matehaere said.
"It is hard to win basketball games and they’ve put some good performances on the floor."
Emotions ran high throughout the game and there was an ugly incident at the end when some pushing and shoving broke out when the teams came together to shake hands.
NBL
The scores
Otago Nuggets 103
JaQuori McLaughlin 31, Michael Harris 21
Wellington Saints 94
Tom Vodanovich 29, Marlon Taylor 18
Quarter scores: 17-20, 52-44, 72-67.
