For six weeks, nearly 90 basketball players, their coaches - and a few hard working physios - have been living together in a central Auckland hotel and completing a hectic schedule of games.
The first NBL Showdown champion will be crowned on Saturday night and the action between will be viewed across the world.
There were doubts whether New Zealand's domestic basketball competition would even get off the ground in 2020 after the Covid-19 disruption.
Player welfare concerns and questions around the legitimacy of the quickly pulled together competition saw three teams drop out before tip-off and organisers were initially denied any financial backing from the government.
Felicity Reid reports on the new-look basketball league, its stars and up-and-comers.
