Basketball: Injury hits Tall Blacks' hopes

Key New Zealand player Sean Marks is unlikely to take any further part in the world championships after suffering an eye injury against Argentina.

Marks was poked in the right eye in Sunday's final match in the first round, and was told by an eye specialist afterwards that any activity could lead to further bleeding from the injury.

"Basketball's a physical game, these type of things happen," Marks said yesterday.

"It's part of the game. It's very frustrating and it's sad not to be going out there to represent your country."

Marks has had a frustrating time with injuries in recent weeks.

He was initially hampered by a hamstring injury and shin splints in the buildup to the championships and he rolled an ankle in the opening match against Russia.

New Zealand's only NBA player, Marks has been in outstanding form for the Tall Blacks in Indianapolis and a major factor in the team's advancing to the second round.

The 2.1m starting centre has been put on bed rest for five days before the injury is reassessed, ruling him out of the second-round matches against Germany today, the United States tomorrow and China on Thursday.

New Zealand need to win at least one of those games to progress to the quarter-finals, otherwise they will contest playoff matches for places eight to 12.

"It's definitely upsetting that I'm going to have to cut the world champs short at this stage, but I've got a lot of confidence in the guys," Marks said.

"They can carry on. They've shown in the past they can beat some world powers without some of the players like myself."

Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin said the loss of Marks made the job ahead a lot tougher.

"We don't like the fact that Sean isn't playing. We'll miss him, he is an integral part of the team.

"We've got to do some things to compensate personnel-wise and other players are going to have to step up to the mark and give us some more minutes.

"And those have to be quality minutes because that's what Sean has given us."

The Tall Blacks have targeted as "winnable" the matches against Germany and China.

With injury ruling Tony Rampton out of the team for the championships and now the loss of Marks, the Tall Blacks are undermanned in the forwards.

"It's tough without those two to front up to the size [of opponents]," Baldwin said.

"Sean has given as an inside offensive presence that we haven't really had a lot of.

"We'll have to lift our level, lift our intelligence and play really smart without Sean.

"The margin for error goes down even further without him. It's small as it is, but now it's almost nil."

Meanwhile, the team have been enjoying a small band of enthusiastic New Zealand support in Indianapolis which has turned up for the games armed with Kiwi memorabilia.

And it isn't just on home shores where the underdogs have received the headlines.

A half-page article and an accompanying picture of the Tall Blacks' pre-match haka adorned Sunday's New York Times.

Today's match starts at 10.30am.

- NZPA