Tall Blacks 84
Spain 101
A dogged New Zealand suffered their second loss at the basketball world championship in Turkey this morning (NZT), going down 101-84 to defending champions Spain.
The match bore similarities to their 92-79 opening loss to Lithuania at Izmir yesterday, with the Tall Blacks enjoying some bright periods but being held at arm's length by powerful European opponents.
The result leaves New Zealand trailing their six-team group after two rounds and probably having to win two of their three remaining matches against Lebanon, Canada and France to advance to the quarterfinals.
Spain had too much height and class for the game New Zealanders, shooting an outstanding 74 percent from the field. They were adept at creating space for open shots while the fast break was also a fertile ground for their points.
Coach Nenad Vucinic said his team's defence had to work overtime against the experienced Spaniards and was pleased with the improvement in 24 hours.
"We wanted to establish a little bit of pride in our game and we managed to do that," he told NZPA.
"If we played with the same commitment yesterday (against Lithuania) we were a very good chance to win that game.
"There's still improvement to be made but the intensity was very good."
As they did against France, New Zealand won the rebound battle 39-31, but couldn't generate the same offensive clout as the 2006 champions.
Kirk Penney, who scored 37 points against Lithuania, was restricted to 21 points - including just five in the second half - while Thomas Abercrombie managed 19 and Phill Jones 15.
Centre Marc Gasol produced a game-high 22 for the Spaniards, supported by double-figure tallies for Juan Carlos Navarro and Jorge Garbajosa in a bounce-back performance after surprisingly losing to France yesterday.
"We were facing probably the No 1 or 2 team in the tournament. Coming off a loss, we knew they would come out firing, and they did," Vucinic said.
"Rhey shot very well. It wasn't possible for us to slow them down too much. It's not easy because they've got top guys inside. They've got NBA players like Marc Gasol so we had double up down low against those big guys and that opened up room on the perimeter."
Small forward Abercrombie snared six rebounds and outlined his athleticism with a handful of dunks, including a spectacular effort off an "alley-oop" pass by Penney over Gasol, who is the starting centre for the Memphis Grizzlies in the National Basketball Association.
That was part of a mini-fightback from the Tall Blacks, who trailed by 10 points midway through the first quarter but grittily fought back to be down just 48-44 at a halftime.
Stung by some sharp words from coach Sergio Scariolo at halftime, Spain burst out of the blocks in the third quarter with nine unanswered points and never looked like losing from there.
New Zealand's next match is on Wednesday morning against Lebanon, coached by former Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin.
- NZPA
