Henare hails Tall Blacks wall in China
That was more like it. The Tall Blacks got their Fiba World Cup qualifying show back on track with a performance that had their coach’s DNA dripping all over it.
The New Zealand men’s basketballers made the hop from Dongguan in China to Seoul in Korea yesterday for the second leg of their February Fiba World Cup qualifying window with a decided spring in their step after a quality victory in one of the toughest placed to win on the international circuit
The Tall Blacks’ 82-73 victory over China in front of a large and vocal home crowd at the Dongguan City Basketball Center was easily their best performance of this first phase of the Fiba Asia zone’s qualifying process for the 2019 World Cup in China.
The much-needed road scalp was sealed by a 27-15 final quarter in which the New Zealanders’ defensive pressure finally reaped the rewards as they powered clear of their tiring hosts, advancing them to a 2-1 record in Group A alongside both China and Korea.
‘‘We wanted to play that pressure defence for the whole game, and for the most part we did a good job of playing with good pressure,’’ said a satisfied Henare who was a heck of a defender back in his playing days. ‘‘We felt if we could sustain that for 40 minutes ... possibly the Chinese guards got a little tired, and we were able to get many guys through.
‘‘The Webster brothers, Shea Ili and Reuben Te Rangi all did a really good job with their pressure up the floor, and having fresh bodies to be able to put that pressure on up the floor played a massive part.’’
Certainly there was a lot to like about the Tall Blacks’ performance to open this second window of the qualifying period, especially on the back of a home loss to Korea back in November that had served as somewhat of a wakeup call.
‘‘Against Korea we didn’t play a great game ... but we learnt a lot about ourselves from that game and from that first window about how we prepare, the way we need to play and systematically what we need to run.
‘‘The adjustments we made from that first window to this window played a big part in getting the win against China,’’ added Henare.
The Tall Blacks’ final quarter surge was huge after they had trailed by one (38-37) at halftime and by three (58-55) at the final intermission. But also vital was an outstanding bench contribution (30 points to just 11 by China), some outstanding three-point shooting (they made eight of their 15 attempts from beyond the arc) and some impressive discipline (the New Zealanders committed 10 less fouls and earned 10 more trips to the charity stripe).
As usual the load was well spread too. The Webster brothers showed their class, Tai contributing an efficient 18 points (7/13 FG, 4/6 3PT) and five assists, with Corey matching his sibling’s points and assists totals.
Henare liked the way his team hung tough through some hot first-half shooting from China’s former NBA star Yi Jianlian (37 points), but couldn’t go past that defensive pressure he hangs his hat on as the difference.
‘‘It was the work we put in at the defensive end, the pressure we applied up the floor that got us the win. We were able to create turnovers and get ourselves extra possessions through playing some exceptional defence.’’
Next stop Korea tomorrow night (11.30pm tip, NZT) for a matchup that Henare’s men will be well motivated to win.
(Corey Webster 18, Tai Webster 18, Alex Pledger 11, Shea Ili 10), (Jianlian Yi 37, Peng Zhou 17). 1Q: 14-14, HT: 37-38, 3Q: 55-58.