Tall Blacks gambling over style
Some things don’t change for the Tall Blacks as they prepare for another shot at the World Cup. They’re still the scrappy underdogs flying under everyone’s radar looking to prove they belong at the grown-ups’ table.
But this time around there is one thing distinctly different about Paul Henare’s New Zealand men’s team as they bid to continue a remarkable run of four straight appearances in the knockout round of the global tournament.
From the 2002 Indianapolis semifinalists under Tab Baldwin through to Nenad Vucinic’s 2014 side that ran Lithuania so close in the round of 16 in Spain, the Tall Blacks have generally been a well-structured offensive unit that knew how to run plays to pop key guys open for the right shots.
But under Henare, in his first coaching tilt at this level, the New Zealanders have made a seismic ‘‘pace and space’’ shift in playing style that starting small forward Tom Abercrombie hopes can be a crucial point of difference as they look to find their way out of a brutal pool alongside Brazil, Montenegro and medal contenders Greece.
‘‘We want to play more uptempo, a bit freer and a little bit
more random,’’ Abercrombie told Stuff as the Tall Blacks headed from Shenyang to Nanjing to prepare for the pool opener against Brazil on Sunday (8pm start, NZ time).
‘‘We’re coming up against some pretty big teams and having big men who can stretch the floor and shoot the ball can be a real advantage.
‘‘Our bigs have done a good job of that so far and we’ve created some action to free up those guys for good looks. The more we’re able to move the ball like that and be in constant, random motion, be as unscoutable as we can, puts us in a good position.’’
Abercrombie admits it’s a departure from the norm for the Tall Blacks who had become adept at freeing perimeter men such as Kirk Penney, Phill Jones, Pero Cameron and more latterly Corey Webster for quality looks off multiple screen action.
Now there’s a more equal opportunity, more random style in play, and the spinoffs have been notable through the seven buildup games in which the Tall Blacks went 2-5.
Centres, Rob Loe (16 of 32), Alex Pledger (1/2) and Tohi Smith-milner (8/16) shot a combined 50 per cent (25 of 50) from three-point land through those preparation games, and that’s an aspect the Kiwis are hoping will roll into pool play where they will likely need two wins to advance.
‘‘It’s certainly different to Tall Blacks teams I’ve been part of in the past,’’ notes Abercrombie. ‘‘It’s about giving us the best chance at this tournament to beat these teams in our pool. The coaches have done a great job of putting a system in place to allow us to do that.
‘‘It’s about our personnel, about utilising our strengths and we’re starting to click into that style of offence. Now it’s about freshening up so we can play at that pace we need to for the full 40 minutes because that’s hard when you’re playing three nights in a row.’’
The Tall Blacks are as ready as they can be after a quality buildup. Results haven’t been startling, but they have ticked the boxes they needed to, while dealing with niggling injuries to Pledger, Shea Ili and Jarrod Kenny. The last-up win against Italy in Shenyang was just the confidence-booster required too.
‘‘It would have been nice to win every game but our goal is to win our first [World Cup] game against Brazil and every buildup game has been part of that process,’’ Abercrombie said. ‘‘A lot of focus has been on what we’re doing and we’ve made some strides in the right direction.’’
In terms of shortcomings through those twin losses to Canada and the defeats to world Nos 3 and 4 France and Serbia on consecutive nights in Shenyang, Abercrombie highlighted the need to maintain pace and trust in the systems through the 40 minutes and ball security as the main issues.
There was also no hiding from the stakes first up, with just two teams qualifying from the pool for the knockout stages and NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the dangerous Greeks considered warm favourites to take one of those spots.
‘‘It’s massive,’’ agrees Abercrombie. ‘‘With the smaller pools, every game means that much more and playing well first up would make a huge difference confidence and momentum wise.
‘‘We want to win this first game, and it’s all we’re thinking about right now.’’