Basketball: Playoff hopes on line at YMCA tonight

The Hamilton YMCA is "last chance saloon" for both the Waikato Pistons and the North Harbour Heat tonight.

The Pistons are two wins from 10 and the Heat two from 11 and defeat will kill all playoff hopes for one or the other.

Pistons import Vidal Massiah has a foot injury that has restricted his training but is expected to play.

Manager John Davey said they had had a problem jelling as a team and had suffered too many close losses. "The talent is there, we certainly expected to be in the playoffs. The desperation going into this game has been made clear to them. We have eight games left and we have to win eight. You'd get long odds on that right now at the TAB."

The Pistons are expecting the Heat to play their usual game of long shots and smothering defence.

The Heat have Breaker Brent Charleton back tonight after injury and team spokesman Alex Stojkovic said their odds depended heavily on him. "If he's shooting well, we're always a chance, if he's not, we'll struggle."

Stojkovic believes they have virtually no chance of making the finals regardless of the result tonight and sees the challenge for the team as retaining focus and momentum and building for 2007. "We've lacked confidence. North Harbour and Waikato are the two teams in the league not playing to their potential. We expected to finish third or fourth but I think our chances are gone now," Stojkovic said.

"It's very difficult to attract players if your record is two and nine. It's going to be difficult to keep the culture and to convince people to stay. We will be desperate to win [tonight] because we need to get the vibe positive, to get things on track for next year."

The crowd will be of interest. Last week's game against Hawkes Bay was a sellout but with playoff hopes all but gone numbers may suffer.

They could not do worse than Auckland, who lead the league with 20 points and have had just one loss yet struggle for more than 300 at home.

After this, the Pistons have a chance at a run of wins with games against lowly Otago and Canterbury, albeit away.

The Heat still face two games against second-placed Hawkes Bay and appear to have less chance of getting on a roll.

The deadline for NBL team changes passed yesterday. Interestingly, there are four teams that have not changed imports this year - Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Nelson and Canterbury - and the first three lead the league.

Banvitspor losses

Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin, captain Pero Cameron and point guard Paul Henare may be on the plane home sooner than they'd hoped after their Banvitspor team crumbled twice in playoffs away to Turk Telecom.

They won game one at home then dropped 69-90 and 69-77 in Ankara, with the fourth game to be played at home on Friday.

Cameron and Henare must play five regular season games for their teams in order to be eligible for the finals. Henare played one before he flew out.

Phill Jones' Cantu side has been eliminated from playoff contention with a 12-22 record for the season and he arrived in Nelson yesterday to beef up the Giants' finals campaign.

Jones averaged 9.8 points in 31 games for Cantu at around 38 per cent shooting average.

He is expected to play in the double-header away to the Hawkes on Friday and Saints on Saturday.

Tall Fern Donna Loffhagen has been getting fewer than 10 minutes in pre-season games for the Connecticut Suns.

Sean Marks has not taken the court in any of the playoff games for San Antonio and is not expected to do so as their series against Dallas continues.

Coach chases tally

Nelson's Nenad Vucinic has the opportunity to take the record as coach with the most wins in the next week, needing two to equal Tab Baldwin's tally of 143.

Bradshaw back to play

Tall Black prospect Craig Bradshaw is home with his United States college team Wintrop University for games against the Heat on May 20, the Pistons on May 21 and his old NBL side the Saints on May 22. They then go to Australia for three games there.

World champs

Fans wanting to follow the Tall Blacks campaign at the world champs in Japan need to act quickly to secure accommodation and game seats. Phone Basketball New Zealand marketing manager Andrew Alleway (04) 498-5962 or Williment Travel, Phil Langridge (04) 471-6101 or Ross Jamieson (04) 494-6856.

Dorge nominated

Breakers assistant coach John Dorge is one of 10 nominees for induction to the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame, the successful candidates to be announced at a function on the Gold Coast on June 10. The others are Ray Borner, Brad Dalton, Mark Davis, the ANBL general manager Chuck Harmison, Leroy Loggins, Dwayne McClain, Mike McKay, Paul Maley and Dean Uthoff.

The 10 finalists are chosen by a ballot of the 24-member NBL Hall of Fame Committee from a list of eligible players, who must have made an outstanding contribution to the NBL, been retired for a minimum of four seasons and have played 100 NBL games or more.