Basketball: Cameron chasing fitness

By DAVID LEGGAT

Inspirational Tall Blacks captain Pero Cameron is facing perhaps the toughest three weeks of his career.

Cameron, battling to get over persistent right calf muscle problems, is determined to be at full fitness before the start of the Athens Olympics programme on August 15. His coach, Tab Baldwin, is adamant he will be ready, and warned that his outstanding leader should prepare for a gruelling fitness regime.

Despite being well short of full fitness, Cameron played 78m 35s in the course of the three games against Australia over the weekend, more than any other Tall Black.

He bagged 44 points in the 2-1 series loss to the Boomers - only classy shooter Phill Jones with 47 got more - and he showed moments of brilliance.

But that's not enough for Baldwin, who said the 1.98m, 30-year-old forward had been guilty of pacing himself at times.

"We had to give him a rark up. I want to be able to play him for 40 minutes if I have to," Baldwin said. "If he doesn't get injured I'll go so far as to say he'll be almost unrecognisable in two to three weeks.

"We're going to work him like he's never been worked - and if we don't I'll kill my assistant coach [Nelson Giants coach Nenad Vucinic], because that's his job," he quipped.

Cameron knows what's in store for him, and insists he's ready.

"The last 10 days have been huge for me," he said. "But there's still a long way to go, I think, if I want to have an impact on the Olympics."

He doesn't know if he has sufficient time to be at peak fitness but "I'm going to kill myself doing it and we'll see".

Part of Cameron's desire to peak for Athens is the spirit within the camp. He likes the fact that it is a team who do not bend the knee to anyone, and there was evidence in the second and third tests against the Boomers to back his argument.

In the second game the Tall Blacks roared out to a handsome lead, only to be locked at 66-all at the end of the third quarter. They then kept their head, dug deep and nailed a five-point win to square the series. In the decider in Invercargill, from 27-9 down at the first quarter they scrapped their way to a four-point deficit with eight minutes left before going down by 11 points.

"I really believe in this group. These guys won't back down to anyone," said Cameron.

The Tall Blacks' 12 for Athens are to be named today.