Airs provide a point of reference for the Nuggets

Brent Matehaere and the Nuggets are smiling again, but they can hardly afford to put their feet up.

The Nuggets bounced back nicely from their five-game skid with a winning streak, including a convincing 108-86 victory over the Hawkes Bay Hawks on Saturday.

That drops them back to seventh in the National Basketball League with a 6-8 record and six games to play, starting tonight with a home clash with the Taranaki Airs, who beat the Nuggets 105-95 in a few weeks ago.

“We’ve made progress on locking in what we’re trying to do as a group and our systems,” Matehaere said yesterday.

“I think we took some positive steps against Airs and obviously since then we’ve had some success in a few games.

“I think Airs provides that benchmark. Now we can see if we’ve made significant improvements and if we can actually overtake and beat them.”

Taranaki are fourth in the NBL with a 9-4 record and have a nice line-up with few weaknesses.

Australian Sam Froling is second in the league in rebounding (11.8 per game) and third in scoring (22.7 points on 61% shooting), veteran guard Mitch McCarron leads the league in assists with 7.5, and the powerful American forward Elijah. Minnie has the ability to become hot.

Throw in the Cameron brothers, Tobias and Flynn, the latter shooting 42 percent from three, and the likes of Carlin Davison and Derone Raukawa, and there are threats everywhere.

Still, it doesn’t look like the Nuggets are scoring.

They just need to throw a little more at the Airs than they did in the road game.

“They’re an aggressive rebounding team and we didn’t win the rebounding battle, so I think that’s a focal point,” Matehaere said.

“They score by playing tough defense and we have to take care of the basketball as well, so we definitely learned some lessons and hopefully we’ll implement them.”

There is little room for error for the Nuggets as the season enters its final stretch.

However, that has been the case for two weeks and Matehaere believes they are ready for the play-off battle looming.

“We are very aware of the situation that is presented.

“But if you focus on the basics and focus on what you can control, that’s the critical part of any sport.”

“There is an energy among the group. There is something significant ahead that is at hand and that is making sure we lock in those opportunities and make the most of them.”

Nuggets guard Dontae Russo-Nance is listed as questionable for tonight’s game.

He sprained his ankle in training on Monday and will be further assessed today.

NBL

Edgar Center, 7:30 p.m

Otago Nuggets: Jack Andrew, Kimani Lawrence, Ben Henshall, Dontae Russo-Nance, Darcy Knox, Zaccheus Darko-Kelly, Robbie Coman, Matthew Bardsley, Josh Aitcheson, Caleb Smiler, Matt Pyper, Michael Ruske.

Taranaki Airs: Carlin Davison, Sam Froling, Flynn Cameron, Elijah Minnie, Mitch McCarron, Tobias Cameron, Derone Raukawa, Quintin Bailey, Nico Hill.