Basketball: Ace of Pace a joker in Giants' pack

Trafalgar Square

Nelson

When Liam Flynn first assumed the mantle of Nelson Giants coach he put his feelers out.

Not surprisingly, the Australian consulted compatriot Shawn Dennis, asking the former HBS Bank Hawks coach who he thought was the best import to secure for the Giants' Bartercard National Basketball League (NBL) campaign this year.

The assistant Perth Wildcats coach, without hesitation, recommended Josh Pace, a versatile American small forward who had performed admirably under Dennis' regime, although the Hawks had stumbled twice in their playoffs in Wellington.

Ironically, Pace, who last year played for the Manawatu Jets after finding himself out of ex-Hawks coach Paul Henare's equation the previous season, ended up with the Giants with whom he had won an NBL title.

"Josh is ... an excellent rebounder who has a great nose for the ball.

"He knows where the ball bounces and he's a fantastic finisher in the lane," Flynn says in his maiden stint in the NBL with veteran shooting guard Phill Jones as captain.

The Giants are on track to secure a top-four playoff, ironically confirmed on Thursday to be played at the Pettigrew-Green Arena, Napier, on July 13-14.

Having made the playoffs for two years, last year as the premiership champions, the Hawks stumbled twice in Wellington.

Barring major upsets, including today's 7pm tip-off at the Trafalgar Centre, the Hawks are unlikely to feature as hosts, as NBL board chairman Sam Rossiter-Stead confirmed Sky TV were coming to the party on the Saturday/Sunday playoffs.

The Tab Baldwin-coached Hawks have only two wins from nine matches and are languishing third from bottom on the NBL ladder on four points, two above flogging boys Waitakere Rangers, who beat them for their only win, and win-less Waikato Pistons, who have yet to play the Hawks.

Making the Paora Winitana-captained Hawks' task even more daunting is the Giants' record for not having lost any of their four home games.

"We have super gym here and we have great fans who are vocal, so we like playing at home," says Flynn, who is sticking with his faithful starting five of Pace, New Zealand Breakers captain/power forward Mika Vukona, point guard Josh Bloxham, guard Brook Ruscoe, and import power forward Erron Maxey, with Jones coming off the bench.

Pace, who soldiered on for the Hawks despite a broken cheek bone that prompted him to wear a face mask, is 0.4 points a game behind last round's player of the week, Otago Nuggets import Antoine Tisby.

He is the fifth in the NBL overall player, power ranking with Hawks import slasher Brian Greene in 10th place.

In their first meeting of the season, the hosts will have ticked off the Hawks as a must-win game but Flynn emphasises the visitors had the best pre-season outing.

That the Hawks pushed outright leaders Otago, who have lost only to the Wellington Saints (away) to overtime in Dunedin before succumbing, further reinforces his fears the Bay franchise are capable of anything.

"I have a lot of respect for a world-class Tab. It's a terrific team and they can be dangerous in the second half of the season," says the Brisbane-born 34-year-old from Southern Districts, who started coaching under-10s from the age of 13.

"I remember I wasn't very good as a player, so I became a basketball coach, although I kept playing at a local club level until I was about 17."

Two years later, Flynn bid his parents farewell to cut a trek across the country to Adelaide to further his career.

A former Townsville and Adelaide assistant coach in the Australian National Basketball League (ANBL), he got endorsement from Crocodiles player Jacob Holmes to go to Nelson for an NBL stint.

"Jacob played for the Giants, I think, in 2008 as an import," Flynn says, adding he has always held the NBL, outside the ANBL, in high regard.

"I've been trying to come across for the last three years but I was always late in getting my application in, so I didn't get my timing right."

Asked what his coaching philosophy is, Flynn replies they have built a foundation on hanging their hats on defence and pressure in purchasing some leeway out of the offensive structure.

"We have a San Antonio Spurs structure of offence, with a lot of ball movement."

Consequently, the Giants have numerous players making contributions.

For argument's sake, Maxey performed against the Saints, Pace stepped up against the Rangers, and Vukona was the "player of the week".

"We have a good, even spread of talent and a bunch of guys who don't care who shoots the ball."

Winitana agrees throwing down the gauntlet tonight will require his men to draw on intangible variables more than anything else.

"We have to give them the respect they deserve and have earned with their recent run of success."

Nevertheless, a large whack of the catalyst for the Hawks' performance has to come from within the players.

"We have been asking ourselves where we're at, because we need to take ownership as players, coaches and imports," the former Tall Black says. He adds that the 2 from 7 and 8 from 2 results of the visitors and hosts speaks volumes and requires no interpretation of how both sides' season has been unfolding.

"We're coming up short, so things in the team have to change."

That change isn't something as whimsical as reshuffling the starting or finishing five, but paying attention to little things that will promote a shift in attitude and increase their mental fortitude.

"We have to improve our rebounding, transitional play and defence too," Winitana says, emphasising tweaking team systems is vital if they are to match the competitive edge high flyers such as the Giants, Saints and Nuggets are showing to find footholds on the top rungs of the NBL ladder.

"Not just the Hawks but any team who drop their guard and lose respect for, not only the opposition, but the game can lose to any team in the league."

Unfortunately, he reckons, the Hawks have been starting random quarters well throughout the season but failing to put in a complete game.

"We're having lapses but, if we put them together, then good things will start happening for us.

"I love what Tab's been doing and the seniors' approach this week at trainings," says Winitana, mystified as to how they scrimmage against each other but lose that intensity come game nights.

But that job has become tougher with Everard Bartlett out with an ankle injury with Baldwin suspecting he won't be avialable for the away Saints match on Wednesday, too.