Basketball: Adjustments needed against Brazil, says Baldwin

The Tall Blacks need a change of mindset if they are to match Brazil in the current basketball series between the two nations, according to New Zealand coach Tab Baldwin.

A fourth-quarter scoring spree from Brazil sunk any hopes the Tall Blacks had of an opening win in the five-test series in Rio de Janeiro earlier today.

The New Zealanders matched Brazil basket for basket in the opening quarter, with the scores tied at 20-20. But the speed and size of the Brazilians started to take their toll in the second spell, and the Tall Blacks trailed 47-39 at halftime.

New Zealand managed to stay in touch to be down 62-74 at the end of the third quarter, but coach Tab Baldwin said the quickness of the Brazilian game proved too much in the closing stages.

"The game was close in through the early stages, but in the fourth quarter they had a scoring spurt and built their lead up to around 20 points," he told NZPA today.

New Zealand hung tough through the opening period, enjoying their only lead of the game after guard Kirk Penney hit a pair of three-pointers for a 16-13 advantage.

But Brazil swung the momentum with a 10-3 run midway through the second quarter and the Tall Blacks could barely hang on thereafter.

Penney continued his good form from the Tall Blacks' historic series win over Australia last week, hitting 28 points. He was ably backed up by Wellington rookie Craig Bradshaw (18) and Pero Cameron (12).

However, Baldwin said the Brazilians controlled the game well, putting pressure on the New Zealanders in all facets of play.

"The game was played from a Brazilian standpoint at a very high tempo -- they used their quickness and their size exceptionally well," he said.

"We had difficulty adjusting to those particular attributes, so consequently Brazil really controlled the flow of the game."

The Tall Blacks couldn't afford to give up easy baskets as they did in today's game, Baldwin said.

"We have got to adjust our mentality to the speed and physicality of the Brazilian game."

Baldwin said the New Zealanders had known very little about Brazil before today's game, apart from the fact that they had two American-based NBA players on their roster.

"We didn't know anything about them before the game -- we knew they had a couple of NBA players, but we didn't know much about their style of play or the players that filled out the roster.

"Brazil is a very, very good team. They are very talented, they're exceptionally athletic. They were tough right throughout the game, and they gained more and more control as the game went on," he said.

Baldwin said his players had had time to recover from a gruelling 33-hour trip to Brazil after their Australian series win, and weren't using that as an excuse for today's loss.

"It's disappointing from our standpoint, but there's a lot of things we can do to play better against Brazil, and a lot of lessons we'll take from this game."

After their Brazilian series, the Tall Blacks play three tests against Argentina then travel to Japan for the world championships starting on August 19.

- NZPA