Tougher China loom after Tall Blacks’ easy workout

To say “mission accomplished” for the Tall Blacks would be pretending that their World Cup qualifier victory over Hong Kong was ever in doubt.

After all, what really can you take away from a 124-65 thrashing? Sure, the Tall Blacks looked superb offensively in Rotorua last night and shot at a ridiculous 65.7 per cent, but with every overwhelming positive comes the substantial caveat of the quality of opposition.

Defeated 133-74 in their last meeting with the Tall Blacks, Hong Kong were never going to pose any threat, so instead the Tall Blacks had to focus on internal objectives. The positives there? Well, every player got at least 10 minutes on court, they remain atop their qualifying group, and there were no initial injury concerns ahead of a much tougher clash with China.

They can secure top spot going into the second phase of qualifying with a win over China in Auckland on Sunday, but their chances of making the 2019 World Cup are excellent regardless.

A refresher: In the next round of qualifying, the Tall Blacks will play Jordan, Lebanon and either Syria or India – all sides who finished behind the Tall Blacks’ depleted youth brigade at last year’s Asia Cup. Points carry over from the first stage, and the eventual three qualifiers from the quartet all play twice against China, South Korea and the Tall Blacks, with four of those six sides qualifying for the World Cup.

That should be no problem for the Tall Blacks, but those games will be of huge value, and will be competitive, something Hong Kong were never going to provide in what was a mammoth mismatch.

In what used to be a rarity, the Tall Blacks had a massive height advantage, and made the most of it, dominating in the paint and claiming an absurd 52 rebounds to Hong Kong’s 17. Tom Abercrombie and Rob Loe feasted on an array of open threes to lead all scorers with 18 points apiece, but while the thrashing gave head coach Paul Henare a chance to experiment with some different lineups and combinations, it’s difficult to determine which lineups really clicked, and which simply profited from inferior opposition.

There were a few sloppy moments on defence which will need to be tidied up before the Chinese clash, a game which will be their real test of this international window. China have a promising roster, possessing three players who will play for NBA sides at Summer League.

They will provide a perfect gauge of how the Tall Blacks are tracking on their path to the World Cup — a path which is overwhelming likely to end in World Cup qualification.