Nelson Giants
The Fico Finance Nelson Giants are a basketball team that play in the National Basketball League in New Zealand. Their home games are played at the Trafalgar Centre (aka The Hangar) in Nelson.
One of the perennial powerhouses of the NZNBL, the Giants have made the playoffs in nine of the last ten seasons. In that time they made the finals five times. The Giants have won the championship three times in their history, in 1994, 1998, and 2007.
The Giants are led by head coach Liam Flynn, and his assistant Tony Rampton. Gary Williams is the team's manager. Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vučinić is the owner and a former coach of the Nelson Giants and holds the NZNBL record for most wins. Each team is allowed two non-Tasman imports and for the 2008 season they were Mike Harrison and Jamil Terrill. In their title winning 2007 season American Josh Pace (Syracuse University) lead the team in scoring and was the league MVP.
The Giants have a loyal fan base, which is cheered on by a group of local hooligans known as the Nelson Giants Wannabes.
Read more about Nelson Giants: Current Roster, 2013 Management, Notable Former Players
Famous quotes containing the words nelson and/or giants:
“The victors and the vanquished then the storm it tossed and tore,
As hard they strove, those worn-out men, upon that surly shore;
Dead Nelson and his half-dead crew, his foes from near and far,
Were rolled together on the deep that night at Trafalgar!”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.... The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.”
—Omar Bradley (1893–1981)