Basketball: Tolovae prepared to do hard yards

Tony Tolovae looks for an opportunity in the pre-season game against the Canterbury Rams at the...
Tony Tolovae looks for an opportunity in the pre-season game against the Canterbury Rams at the Edgar Centre last month. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.

Every team needs a Tony Tolovae.

The 21-year-old Otago Nuggets guard oozes enthusiasm and is keen with a capital K.

It is infectious. And he has already got a reputation as a hard worker, which will go a long way towards impressing player-coach Mark Dickel, who seems to value work ethic more than any other attribute.

Tolovae will not give him any concern on that count. The 1.94m athlete was still glistening with sweat from a recent training session when the Otago Daily Times caught up with him for an interview.

He had a gleam in his eye, too. That ambition, though, is tempered by a good grasp of reality.

Tolovae knows he has plenty of work to do to get to the point where he can make a real impact on the league. He made his National Basketball League debut last Friday during the Nuggets' surprise 83-77 win over the Sharks in Invercargill.

A crowd of about 2300, many of them dressed in Sharks colours, cheered on the defending champions. It was noisy, intimidating, hostile and a ''really exciting'' environment.

''That was the first time I've experienced something like that,'' Tolovae said.

''It was really exciting.''

''The players are just better. Everyone is better and it was way more intense. But I didn't want to back down. I just want to play and do what I can do to help our team.''

The irony is Sharks veteran point guard Luke Martin was instrumental in helping bring Tolovae to New Zealand. Tolovae moved to Australia with his family when he was 10 but was born in Auckland and can play as a non-restricted player.

Martin and Tolovae live in the same Sydney neighbourhood, play in the same club competition and also trained together. Martin has taken Tolovae under his wing somewhat, and he made contact with some New Zealand NBL franchises, including the Nuggets, to help give Tolovae a leg up.

Tolovae repaid Martin by helping the Nuggets beat the Sharks. He scored nine points, made three assists and took two steals in 18 minutes from the bench. It was a very useful debut and not bad for a bloke who learned the sport playing street ball.

He loves having the ball in his hands, he is offensive-minded and is used to playing an unstructured type of basketball. He is, in that sense, quite different from any other player on the Nuggets' roster.

The challenge for the Nuggets is to harness his attacking skills and for Tolovae to adapt to the more rigid defensive patterns he will need to master.

''I've played a lot of street ball, so I'm used to having the ball in my hands. But I find in NBL games you can't do that. You have to pass it around, so I'm adjusting to that.

''But Mark always preaches about defence. That is what he wants the other teams to know us for. Every other player here is pretty much defence-minded but when I came here I was more offence-minded. But I'm quickly adapting.''

Tolovae will get an opportunity to show what he has learnt tonight when the Nuggets host the Waitakere Rangers.

The Nuggets will be without Fijian international Marques Whippy. The 1.93m power forward played a key role in the win against the Sharks but ruptured his Achilles while training on Monday and is out for the season.

''He is like our best rebounder and the toughest guy in our team,'' Tolovae said.

''He is a muscle player and with 17 rebounds in our first game - no-one else in our team could really do that for us.''

In Whippy's absence, the pressure will go on imports Warren Carter and Troy Payne to control the boards.

Dickel will probably assume responsibility for keeping big-scoring point guard Eric Devendorf quiet, while Payne's defensive assignment will probably be to shut out Breakers development player Duane Bailey.

Breakers shooting guard Daryl Corletto was expected to make his debut for the Rangers against the Sharks last night and will also be a big threat.

Veteran forward Dillon Boucher is sidelined with an injury but will be assisting coach Aik Ho.


NBL: Nuggets v Rangers
Where:
Edgar Centre.
When: Tonight, 7pm.
Nuggets: Mark Dickel, Tony Tolovae, Troy Payne, Brendon Polyblank, Warren Carter, Micah Lepaio, Sam King, Steve Robinson, Olly Smith, Damon Cleverley, Sheldon McGuire, Darcy Knox.
Rangers: Eric Devendorf, Daryl Corletto, Duane Bailey, Johnny Fesolai, Patrich Bolstad, Houston O'Riley, Cameron Stuart, Christoph Fahrensohn, Tai Wynyard, Hayden Miller.


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