Otago Nuggets

If you have been in a coma for the past 12 months you could be forgiven for thinking we have got the score around the wrong way.

Holy smoke and other expressions of astonishment - the Otago Nuggets are actually really good.

Otago Nuggets coach Alf Arlidge would have been entitled to bust out a dance move or two after his side thrashed the Super City Rangers 111-77 at the Edgar Centre on Saturday night.

Let's take a moment to gush.

Akeem Wright arrived in Dunedin with a reputation as an industrious and diligent all-rounder.

Whatever Wellington Saints coach Pero Cameron said at halftime it certainly worked.

Here is a tip: the Auckland Pirates will win the National Basketball League.

Leon Henry's mind was not quite on the job last weekend.

You cannot beat basketball for drama, and some of it was even on the court.

Experienced point guard Michael Fitchett may have come out of retirement to answer an SOS from the Otago Nuggets, but he has a lot of making-up to do with the franchise.

If the Otago Nuggets' inspirational leader Mark Dickel had been able to hobble back into the action, the home side might have inflicted on the Hawkes Bay Hawks their first loss this season.

When the Otago Nuggets needed to play some defence they got busy getting frustrated instead.

There is a lot to admire about Akeem Wright.

No-one said the road to redemption would be easy. That was just one of the themes to emerge from the Nuggets' loss to the Saints in the National Basketball League match at the Edgar Centre last night.

Otago Nuggets guard Mark Dickel has spent his basketball career putting other people in scoring positions.

Akeem Wright should fit right in. The Otago Nuggets' new signing arrived in Dunedin yesterday to gloomy and overcast conditions. But having come from a Canadian winter, it felt like T-shirt weather to him.