The Hutt Valley Lakers were a New Zealand

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

team based in

Hutt Valley The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zeala ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

. The Lakers competed in the National Basketball League (NBL).

Team history

The Hutt Valley Lakers started in the second-tiered

Conference Basketball League The Conference Basketball League (CBL) was a second-tiered men's semi-professional basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with th ...

(CBL). After winning the CBL championship in 1989, the team was promoted to the National Basketball League (NBL) for the 1990 season. In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, the Lakers were regular season winners and won the NBL championship with a 103–92 win over the

Wellington Saints The Wellington Saints are a New Zealand basketball team based in Wellington. The Saints compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at TSB Bank Arena. Team history The Wellington Saints were founded in 1981. In 1 ...

in the final. In

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, the Lakers made it back to the NBL final, where they defeated the Canterbury Rams 68–66 to win their second championship. The 1993 final saw Peter Pokai hit the game-winning jump shot to lift the Lakers over the Rams. It was a special triumph for head coach Jeff Green, who was sensationally sacked early in the season, but brought back with seven games to go. At the end of the 1996 season, both the Lakers and the Saints were struggling to survive. As a result, the two teams amalgamated, with the Lakers merging into the Saints.

References

{{National Basketball League (New Zealand) Basketball teams established in 1990 1990 establishments in New Zealand Basketball teams in New Zealand National Basketball League (New Zealand) teams Sport in Wellington Hutt Valley