Tall Blacks ‘showed they belong’ – Henare
The Tall Blacks may have whiffed on both their goals from this Fiba World Cup, but they head to their pair of consolation playoff games with heads held high after a gallant pool finale defeat to world No 8 Greece in Nanjing yesterday.
For Paul Henare’s gritty New Zealand men’s basketballers the 103-97 loss to NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo’s side was a doubly disappointing way to bow out of the pointy end of the World Cup as they not only snapped a run of four straight appearances in the top 16 of the event, but handed Oceania’s automatic Olympic spot to Andrej Lemanis’ Australian Boomers.
By finishing ahead of the Kiwis, Australia have a nailed-on spot for Japan next year, with the Tall Blacks headed down the brutal repechage route.
The New Zealanders finished 1-2 in their pool and head for games against Japan and Turkey in Dongguan to decide their final placing in the 17-32 bracket.
But they at least gave it a good lick against the ‘Greek Freak’ and his assortment of Euroleague and Nba-level team-mates, trailing by just seven at halftime, five after three quarters and nipping away at the European powerhouse’s heels all the way to the finish line.
The Tall Blacks also got a quartet of outstanding individual performances to help their competitiveness against Antetokounmpo and co, none more so than worldclass shooting guard Corey Webster who poured in a gamehigh 31 points to once again confirm his status as one of the premier scorers in the international game.
Webster was fabulously efficient too as he finished the pool phase as the tournament’s No 1 scorer with a 25.0 points per game average. Against the Greeks, who would have scouted him thoroughly, he knocked down 11 of 18 shots, seven of his 12 attempts from deep and added three rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals in a marquee showing. Little brother Tai Webster was handy in support too, getting most of his positive stuff going to the rim as he tallied 17 points on seven-of-13 shooting.
Skipper Tom Abercrombie’s effort was also notable for the Tall Blacks after a less than stellar tournament hitherto. The springy small forward converted a trio of triples and six of his 12 shots overall to finish with 18 points and six rebounds.
Isaac Fotu was the other New Zealander to impress on the big stage, the big-haired power forward going a perfect six-of-six from the floor to finish with 15 points in just 16 foul-plagued minutes. The Greeks were powerless to stop him in the low post.
Star Greece point guard Nick Calathes (14 points, five assists) spelt out what a tough opponent New Zealand had been.
‘‘They’re a very unique team – they run, they shoot threes and they’re a different style of team you’ll see in this tournament,’’ he said. ‘‘Hats off to them, they played a very good game and gave us everything they had.’’
Tall Blacks coach Henare said he and the team headed to the lower classification playoffs with a mixture of disappointment and pride as they fell just short of the ‘‘perfect’’ performance required to tip over a side like Greece.
‘‘We’re disappointed we’re not through to the next round. That was our goal. But we showed we belong here. We had a good win against Montenegro and competed well against two teams with the potential to go really deep . . . Whilst there’s disappointment, there’s a sense of pride there.’’
The Tall Blacks meet Japan tonight (7.30pm, NZ time) in the first of those ‘‘consolation’’ games.