Basketball: Tall Blacks' biggest test

By JENNI RUTHERFORD in Indianapolis

The match against China this morning looms as perhaps the most crucial in the history of basketball in New Zealand.

Win, and the Tall Blacks could reach the quarter-finals of the world championships in Indianapolis, and gain an automatic spot at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Lose, and they will play off for a ranking of ninth to 12th, and will have to qualify for Athens.

The New Zealanders yesterday suffered their heaviest loss of the championships, going down 110-62 to the tournament favourites and NBA player-laden United States.

The Tall Blacks defied the odds by winning the first quarter 25-22 and were still in touch by halftime, trailing by just six points, 48-42.

But, characteristically, the Americans tired their opposition in the third and final quarters for a comfortable win.

"You have to give credit to a great United States team," New Zealand coach Tab Baldwin said. "They do what they are good at. They put defensive pressure on you and pound those offensive boards.

"We tried every trick in the book, and for a while there were some things that worked.

"But the water on the other side of that dam is pretty deep and cold, and we didn't have enough fingers to keep that thing from busting."

The Tall Blacks were breathing down their opposition's necks at halftime, but 17-0 and 19-0 scoring runs by the United States killed off the New Zealanders in the second spell, which they conceded62-20. "Everyone expected that, and that is what is most disappointing for us," Baldwin said. "We wanted to hang tougher for longer."

New Zealand's only other world tournament match against the United States was at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where they lost 102-56.

With game-high 20-point performances from Michael Finley, of the Dallas Mavericks, and 1.98m forward Paul Pierce from the Boston Celtics, the Americans wore down the New Zealanders with superior athleticism and depth from the bench.

Kirk Penney top-scored for New Zealand with 16 points, and captain Pero Cameron's 13 and Phill Jones' 11 were the only other Tall Black returns in double figures.

Cameron made an impact in most facets of the game, also recording six assists and five rebounds.

United States coach George Karl said New Zealand were a one-of-a-kind team, and reserved special praise for Cameron.

"New Zealand have some uniqueness to their offence," he said. "In the first half, some of the stuff they were running threw us.

"They are well coached, they play their asses off, they play the right way physically and mentally.

"Probably my favourite player is the Cameron kid. He is just an all-time good basketball player who knows how to play."

The defeat leaves New Zealand needing to beat China today, a team boosting incredible height in 2.26m Yao Ming, and relying on Germany ousting Russia in a game that starts an hour after the Tall Blacks'.

The Chinese yesterday went down 95-68 to Russia - a team the Tall Blacks beat last week.

The 21-year-old Yao became the first foreign player to be the No1 choice in the NBA draft for the coming season and, combined with the Denver Nuggets' 2.10m Mengke Bateer, the Asian champions will field two of their three-member barricade against the Tall Blacks.

They are without Wang Zhizhi after he was deemed to have been unpatriotic and was banned by the Chinese basketball authority from playing at this tournament.

New Zealand beat China in June during a three-test series.

They were 100-85 victors in Qinhuangdao in the final match after losing 89-74 and 111-101.

"The difference is that China had already won the series," Baldwin said. "This is the world championships, a one-off game."

In other results yesterday, Yugoslavia beat Brazil 90-69, Turkey overwhelmed Angola 86-66, Puerto Rico held out Spain 73-65 and, in the match of the day, Argentina were too good for Germany 86-77.

In the playoff matches for places 13 to 16, Canada pipped Venezuela by a point, 98-97, and Algeria thrashed the new kids on the block, Lebanon, 100-70.

- NZPA

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