Tall Blacks play terribly but still edge Lebanon
THE Tall Blacks are safely on track to reach the 2019 Fiba World Cup, but they just took one hell of a detour to get there.
A 6360 victory over Lebanon in Rotorua featured one of worst offensive performances ever produced by the Tall Blacks, but for all their struggles, somehow the end result was their seventh win on the trot.
In what is surely the first time the Tall Blacks have ever won a game while shooting below 28% from the field, some late free throws and a desperate defensive stand was just enough to grind out a desperately ugly win which extends their lead atop their World Cup qualifying group.
Believe it or not, by the time this elongated qualifying campaign ends, the Tall Blacks will be safely among the teams heading to China.
Had they put in last night’s performance in their clashes earlier this year against South Korea or China, the Tall Blacks would have been bulldozed, but their opposition in the second phase of qualifying — Lebanon, Syria and Jordan — just are not at that level, and thus, they got away with an appalling offensive showing.
As it turns out, travel might be the toughest opponent on the Tall Blacks’ schedule. A casual 38hour journey home following their win over Syria on Saturday surely would have zapped energy levels, and it would be the only logical excuse for their horrendous start — shooting a remarkable 2/20 in the first quarter as they fell into an 187 hole.
Lebanese centre Ater Majok was disrupting everything at the rim as the Tall Blacks reached halftime shooting an abysmal 23% in the paint.
To their credit, the Tall Blacks were battling on defence, and that, combined with Lebanon’s own offensive ineptitude, had the game tied 2525 at halftime but just as you assumed regression to the mean would favour the home side, the shots kept missing.
Not even the usually consistent Webster brothers (a combined 8/29 from the field) could connect, and as Majok started to get some offensive assistance from Elias Rustom, Lebanon suddenly led by nine with seven minutes to go.
Perhaps that was finally the wakeup call the Tall Blacks needed, as they ever so slowly ground their way back into the clash. For all the missed shots, they were at least getting offensive rebounds, and their 25 secondchance opportunities eventually paid dividends as they hit the front with 22 seconds to go. — NZME