Basketball: Kiwis walk tall despite second loss

By PETER JESSUP

The Tall Blacks battered the best of tens of millions of basketballers on Tuesday, pushing the taller and more experienced Chinese team all the way for a 60-75 result in a game in which the New Zealanders were not rated a chance.

There were no gaps in the performance, and the Chinese were rattled by the physical approach of the Kiwis, who were not at all overawed by facing the Olympics' tallest man in Yao Ming and fellow pillars in "The Great Wall."

Sean Marks and his team mates did such a good job shutting down the Chinese apartment block - he scored only 8 points - but that effort left Great Wall partner Wang Zhizhi open to top-score with 19.

"There was no one player on the Chinese team we were particularly threatened by," said coach Keith Mair afterwards.

"We were aware of the sheer height of number 13 [Yao], we knew of the skill of number 15 (Zhizhi), but we also knew there were five or six guys who could shoot the three [points]."

The Kiwi-dominated crowd, more in The Dome on Tuesday than ever went to a game at home, at one stage drowned out Chinese fans with a chant of "Kiwis, Kiwis" and lifted the players appreciably, Mair said.

In the end, what cost them was simply the inability to concentrate for the full 40 minutes at the intensity the international game requires. "That's something quite new to us and something we have to learn more about."

Marks was all over the big Chinese from the start, making it his job to get some retaliation in first, and the tactic worked.

The Tall Blacks opened an early lead with Phill Jones shooting well early, Mark Dickel coming on with eyes burning as a measure of his enthusiasm and hatred of losing, Pero Cameron holding centre court and good distribution from Paul Henare.

They were 8-2 up when the Chinese called the first time-out at 3 1/2 minutes. Chinese coach Xingquan Jiang said later that he told the team to get more aggressive, to tighten their defence, and in the end it was defence that won it for them.

The two sides were level at 18-all going into the second 10 minutes of the first half and it was from there to the break that the concentration lapse Mair was talking about gave the opposition a break.

The Tall Blacks missed several open baskets, could not find any weaknesses in the Great Wall, and muffed a succession of free-throws to be 30-40 at the break.

They came out reinvigorated after the break and closed the gap. The Chinese, though, were just too big and too accurate from long range and they maintained pressure throughout, eventually stretching out the scoreline.

Captain Ralph Lattimore said the side were not as fit as they would like to be, having had only two international runs in the six weeks leading up to this tournament.

"We were a little bit disjointed. We've played them six times and we always knew we were underdogs."

The statistics showed the Tall Blacks had as many shots as the Chinese, Mair agreeing they should have put the ball in the hole more.

The Chinese team's only game prior to this was a 72-119 loss to the United States Dream Team, whom the Tall Blacks play on Saturday night. The 19-year-old Yao was watched with interest by a variety of NBA talent scouts in the China-US game and yesterday.

Asked if the Shanghai-resident Yao, who earns around $24,400 a year, would go to the NBA, Xingquan replied, "Yes, I think so."

Earlier this year, though, the Government refused his request to go to Indianapolis to take part in the off-season Hoop Dreams competition that is a hunting-ground for the NBA teams.

The Chinese would continue to use the Great Wall to take a height advantage, Xingquan said. The profile Yao had given the game had boosted player numbers in China to 100 million. But the big players had to learn to run the court with the skill of the shorter ones.

The Chinese sunk all their 17 free-throws yesterday, hit eight of 26 three-pointers, and 57 per cent of their other shots. The Tall Blacks improved their free-throw count in the second half to end with 13 of 19, made 5 of 12 three-pointers and hit 42 per cent of the rest.

The best part was that they looked seriously disappointed at the end. They weren't pleased with just pushing the Chinese - they felt they should have won. They yesterday made a great leap up in performance from the 50-76 loss to France and the resolve on display promises further improvement in the games to come.

They did us proud.