The 2009 year of basketball in review 

Source: PhotosportMika Vukona shakes off an Australian defender

The Tall Blacks tasted international glory in 2009 while the Breakers made the playoffs and Kobe Bryant grabbed another NBA title.

For the Breakers, 2009 saw the final stages of their successful ANBL campaign draw to a close in the semi-finals.

After surging into the playoffs they were beaten 2-0 in the best of three semi-finals series against the Melbourne Tigers.

But despite failing to win the big one, it was a good year for the Breakers.

Kirk Penney and CJ Bruton were honoured in the All-NBL side - a selection of the competition's best players.

Penney also went on the win the overall league MVP for his outstanding season of 747 points (including 96 three-pointers), 86 assists and 134 rebounds.

The now defunct South Dragons completed a 12-month turnaround from wooden spooners to league champions after defeating Melbourne 3-2 in the grand finals series. It was a thrilling series which ended up going into a decisive game five where the Dragons won by 21 points.

Back home in New Zealand the domestic basketball competition also provided action and drama.

The Waikato Pistons made it back-to-back NBL titles when they swept the Nelson Giants 2-0 in the finals.

Breakers forward Thomas Abercrombie put in a huge first half with 19 points to lead the Pistons to victory. Abercrombie completed his meteoric rise by winning the NBL's rookie of the year.

The Kiwis

The North Shore Events Centre played host to the Under 19 World Championship where New Zealand battled valiantly but couldn't make the finals.

Led by Rob Loe and Brook Ruscoe, the Junior Tall Blacks played better than their results suggested with the best effort coming in a narrow loss against Kazakhstan.

The senior Tall Blacks also had a top flight experience with a tour of Europe where won two games (Portugal and Belgium) and lost five.

Then the Tall Blacks stunned bitter rivals Australia by clinching the two-game series on points differential.

The Boomers defeated New Zealand 84-77 in game one but were thrashed 100-78 in game two to surrender the series.

The unexpected success was a welcome sight for head coach Nenad Vucinic. It was the most significant result of Vucinic's 38-match reign since inheriting the Tall Blacks role from Tab Baldwin in 2007.

In game two Mika Vukona shot a career-high 25 points, 19 of them after halftime, and collected 12 rebounds. He got good support from captain Kirk Penney who amassed 24 points while Alex Pledger and Lindsay Tait added 15 and 12 respectively.

Another ring for Kobe

In June Kobe Bryant saw the culmination of a superb season come to fruition when he won his fourth NBA championship ring.

It was a grand finals series that many were tipping to be Kobe v LeBron (Lakers v Cavaliers) but after the Cavs were bundled out by the Orlando Magic that all changed.

The Los Angeles Lakers captured their 15th championship and first since 2002 with a 99-86 victory over the Magic in game five of the NBA Finals.

LA won the best-of-seven series 4-1, giving coach Phil Jackson his record 10th championship ring and Kobe his fourth.