His team is in its place of comfort — under the bright lights, on the big stage, at a home away from home.
The Otago Nuggets have been up and down this year.
There have been moments where they have looked sublime. Equally, there have been times where terrible would not even begin to describe them.
But on Wednesday, when the stakes were the highest, they delivered in the most emphatic way.
They locked down defensively and found their groove at the other end to win their NBL playoff opener, beating the Hawke’s Bay Hawks 91-80.
That is a good place to be as the Nuggets head into tonight’s semifinal against the Nelson Giants.
"Auckland’s our home court," Matehaere said.
"This is where we won [the 2020 NBL Showdown title]. We feel real comfortable here.
"We’ve always been good on the road. We’re feeling good about ourselves.
"Tray [Boyd] obviously likes the gym — it’s his second 30-piece here. All things are pointing in the right direction to us being successful.
"Sometimes you get half a chance in life, and you’ve just got to take it."
That said, the task is not an insignificant one.
The Giants have fallen off somewhat in recent weeks, but were the form team for much of the season.
In Jarrod West and Trey Mourning, they have two of the league’s elite stars.
They also have role players who have fitted perfectly together this year, alongside an outstanding coach in Mike Fitchett.
Crucially, they have not played in eight days — which could be a blessing or a curse.
It may mean they are rested and ready to go. It could also leave them rusty.
In contrast, the Nuggets have played twice since then and entered the playoffs with a handful of injury concerns.
Recovery had been a top priority in that sense.
"We might need to look after some bodies and see what we can do going into the Giants," Matehaere said.
"We don’t need to be on court — we know how to play basketball — we’ve just got to make sure we take care of business.
"It’s a long wait [for the Giants] — I think it will be eight days since they played their last game."
Form against the Giants is not on the Nuggets’ side.
Nelson beat an import-less team on opening night, before dismantling a poor Nuggets outfit in Dunedin later in the year.
That home loss was amid the Nuggets’ mid-season slump and was also Tahjere McCall’s last game — and the import looked anything but the NBA hopeful he was leaving to be.
Despite that, this is the best place the Nuggets have been going into a game against the Giants, and Matehaere was confident the team knew what to expect.
"We’ve got the film on Nelson," he said.
"They played their last game last Thursday. Obviously we played them twice, we played them without imports. And we played them down home, where we really know we did not execute very well at all.
"Of course that was Tahjere’s last game, so we’re a different team since we were then. We’re 0-2 against them — it’s time to get one back."
In the first semifinal last night, the Auckland Tuatara beat the Taranaki Airs 107-104 in overtime.
NBL
Auckland, tonight, 7.30pm
Nuggets: Sam Timmins, Nikau McCullough, Todd Withers, Tray Boyd, Keith Williams, Josh Aitcheson, Matthew Bardsley, Jack Andrew, Darcy Knox, Joe Ahie, Robbie Coman, Max Pearce.
Giants: Jarrod West, Trey Mourning, Sam Thompson, Sam Dempster, Alex McNaught, Nic Trathen, Tyler Marsh, Jordan Schwalger, Riley Bensemann, Jarred Burnett, Corban Mason, Jay Marsh.
Head to head
Played: 58
Nuggets wins: 14 (4699 points)
Giants wins: 44 (5184 points)
Average score: Nelson 91-82
Playoffs
1991 quarterfinal: Nuggets 78-77
2013 semifinal: Giants 87-72
