Slam dunk: Foreign-based stars add depth for Oz showdown

By PETER JESSUP


Mark Dickel and Kirk Penney will join the Tall Blacks in camp in Australia this week ahead of their three-test Olympic qualifying showdown, meaning coach Tab Baldwin must trim his squad by four.

Only 10 players are allowed to be used in the series, which begins in Bendigo on Monday and goes on to Geelong and Melbourne.

Likely to go from the 12 Tall Blacks who went to the six-nation World Cup in Istanbul are Aaron Olson, Paora Winitana and Lindsay Tait, replaced by the two longer-serving guards.

Penney has been freed from pre-season training with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Dickel is back after checking in with his new team, Oostende in Belgium.

Auckland forward Mike Homik is likely to lose out in a coin-toss decision to Miles Pearce and Saints' Brendon Polyblank.

That would leave the squad as Pero Cameron (c), Dillon Boucher, Polyblank, Ed Book, Pearce, Tony Rampton, Penney, Dickel, Phill Jones and Paul Henare.

Cameron struggled with his calf injury in Turkey, Baldwin said, and opposition teams had been able to focus on shutting down Jones.

"We struggled offensively."

The Tall Blacks averaged just 64.3 points from 36.6 per cent accuracy with field goals. Only 29.9 per cent of their three-shots went in.

Penney will lift the long-range accuracy and Dickel should improve the inside drive.

The Tall Blacks' attitude, fitness and desire must improve, Baldwin said. They go straight to camp in Victoria and the time together gives reason to hope for improvement.

The Aussies continue to talk about the "blackest day" in the history of their sport - the loss to New Zealand in the last world championships qualifier.

Italy beat Turkey in the final of the Istanbul tournament.

The Tall Blacks finished last after losing the playoff for fifth/sixth, 76-90, to Latvia.

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The Breakers are happy with the character displayed on their two-loss, one win pre-season trip to Australia.

Forward Blake Truslove turned an ankle in the first game and did not play the next two. Centre Ben Melmeth missed game two and played the last with a corked thigh, but managed 25 points and 11 rebounds against his old team, the Sydney Kings, in the last game.

Prem Krishna top-scored with 26 to underline the back-up available - he is not signed with the franchise. Casey Frank scored 20 despite suffering from the flu, and Brad Williams shot 13. Lance Baker was out ill, shortening the bench.

The Breakers will be a vastly improved team with eight Tall Blacks back, but the pre-season results suggest they will be competitive immediately.

Scores were: 105-92 to the West Sydney Razorbacks, 84-78 win over the Hunter Pirates, then the 99-124 loss to the Sydney Kings.

Fatigue played a hand in the last result. The Breakers scored better than the home team in the third quarter to close a 52-69 gap to within three points, but then hit the wall against a Kings side who were close to full-strength.

Coach Jeff Green was enthusiastic: "They're the defending champs playing under a coach [the Boomers' Brian Goorjian] known for his defence, so for our youngsters to score 99 points against them was pretty bloody good."

Three Kings players, US import Ebi Ere, Boomers shooting guard Jason Smith and swingman Brad Sheridan, all fouled out.

The Breakers had 53 free-throw attempts and the Kings far fewer but the better shooting percentage.

The visitors also gifted twice the turnovers.

Assistant coach Frank Arsego was happy with a late rally.

"There was a stage where it looked like they would finish all over us but we made some nice baskets and showed lots of poise.

"In the last two minutes we cranked up the defensive effort - very pleasing."

The three-games-in-four-days schedule was a good example to the squad of how tough the 33-game season will be.

On the day off they did pool and weights work.

"It was designed to show the players the reality of what we need to do in the season and how they need to condition themselves," Arsego said.

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The Australian league final will be a best-of-five (rather than three) for the first time in the 25-year history of the competition.

ANBL commissioner Rick Burton also said the playoffs would expand from six to eight teams.

The first week of finals will feature four sudden-death quarter-finals. The semis will be a best-of-three series.