Dubbed #YoungBloods when they left New Zealand, few would have given this inexperienced young Tall Blacks team much hope of progressing deep into the FIBA Asia Cup, but such has been the growth of the team and the lessons learned, they find themselves straight into the quarter finals as Group C winners, despite a one-point defeat to South Korea tonight in Beirut.
Tonights game was a bitter pill to swallow though, losing in the final seconds as a potential game winner from Shea Ili caught the rim and would not roll the right way, but the fact the Tall Blacks were even in that position was testament to an outstanding second half comeback, with the team trailing by as many as 15 at one point in the first half.
Coach Henare was calm and composed during that 15-minute interval, getting the response he wanted from his young charges as they set out on an immediate seven point run to make it a one basket contest for most of the remaining minutes.
With the teams trading baskets and free throws down the stretch, New Zealand had the final possession and the chance to finish pool play unbeaten, but came up just short on the buzzer. Despite knowing that the team had won the group (subject only to Lebanon defeating Kazakhstan which they duly did), Henare did dwell for just a moment on an opportunity lost to win an international game.
"This whole campaign, experience and tournament is about learning. Learning from the good things but also from the mistakes we make. And we made a couple of crucial errors in that final minute that cost us the game - not that it comes down to those single possessions on their own, but in crucial situations you need to execute on both ends and we let ourselves down there, I wanted to get that message across first but then quickly recognize that we achieved our goal of finishing first in our pool, and I am extremely proud of the boys in doing that."
