Basketball: Latvian loss adds pressure

ISTANBUL - New Zealand have a lot of work to do before the Olympic qualifying series next month in Australia after finishing sixth and last at the Six Nations tournament in Istanbul yesterday.

The Tall Blacks lost 90-76 to Latvia for their third successive defeat in the invitation-only tournament.

It is the second Oceania scalp for the Latvians after they beat Australia 88-72 during the Boomers' tour of Europe.

"It wasn't a good tournament for us, but hopefully it is one we can learn from," Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin said.

"For three quarters today we played pretty well, but we still didn't shoot well."

Latvia were allowed to get on too many scoring streaks and they moved out to an 18-point lead at stages in the first quarter.

The difference was reduced to 13 at the end of the spell, but it proved the defining period of the game as New Zealand never fully recovered to take control.

An allround team effort, led by Dillon Boucher, breathed life into New Zealand's bid to finish the tournament on a high note and they managed to outscore Latvia 24-18 to trail 49-42 at halftime.

There was the promise of a Tall Blacks' comeback as the side rallied early in the third quarter and the gap closed to three, but New Zealand failed to capitalise as the score ballooned to 73-61 by the end of the third quarter.

"You have to have a level of appreciation for the experience these European teams have," Baldwin said.

"They will have seen and done virtually every basketball scenario more times than we've probably played games.

"After last year we had proved that we were a pretty good comeback team and those sorts of things create lasting memories for the coaches, so they would have been on guard, knowing that this is a team that didn't quit. And this team didn't quit."

Although it was the first time the New Zealanders had met Latvia on court, their head coach Armands Kraulins said he knew of the Tall Blacks' talent after watching last year's world championships, where New Zealand finished fourth.

"They have a good team. They play very good offence but have problems with defence."

Boucher produced a typically gutsy performance, with solid statistics all round the court.

He top-scored for New Zealand with 15 points, four steals and eight rebounds. Phill Jones and Pero Cameron also made it into double figures, with 14 points each.

"Dillon had a Boucheresque game," Baldwin said. "He carried our enthusiasm a lot of the time.

"At times in our game he was it."

Latvia's Ainars Bagatskis had a game-high 25 points, while Mark Dickel's former University of Nevada team-mate, Kaspars Kambala, scored 22 and grabbed nine rebounds.

New Zealand begin their Olympic qualifying series against Australia in Bendigo on September 1 when they plan to prove the historic Oceania world championships qualifying series win over Australia two years ago was not a one-off.

A win there will also give New Zealand top spot in the region and theoretically an easier route in the Olympic pool matches.

The final was won by Italy, who beat Turkey 76-64. Serbia-Montenegro won the playoff for third, 98-92 over Russia.

Latvia 90 (A. Bagatskis 25, K. Kambala 22, R. Stelmahers 17) Tall Blacks 76 (D. Boucher 15, P. Cameron 14, P. Jones 14, A. Olson 12). HT: 49-42.

- NZPA