KEY POINTS:
Star guard Kirk Penney is keeping the faith, and his fingers crossed, as the New Zealand men's team's Olympic hopes go on the line next week.
The odds are heavily stacked against the Tall Blacks in Greece where they must finish in the top three of 12 competing nations to qualify for the Games next month in Beijing.
New Zealand competed at the past two Olympics but Beijing appears a bridge too far for this team following a raft of retirements.
Coach Nenad Vucinic has admitted it will take "close to a miracle" for the Tall Blacks to qualify for the Olympics, and results in the past fortnight reflect the veracity of his assessment.
The team has played eight internationals in the last 16 days, for three wins and five losses.
Heavy defeats were posted in the two-match home and away series against Australia, before tournaments in Canada and Slovenia saw wins over Canada, Lebanon and Iran and losses to Canada, Puerto Rico and Slovenia.
But Penney, who has been the go-to man during the series in Canada and Slovenia, refuses to write off his team's chances next week in Athens when they begin their tournament campaign on Monday night (NZT) against group B rivals Cape Verde.
New Zealand must initially beat the Africans and ideally Germany before a second round matchup with either Greece or Brazil. Clear those hurdles and they will need to beat another leading nation to make the semifinals.
"I would hate to sell these guys short," Penney said when asked whether Beijing was a realistic destination for the new-look Tall Blacks.
"I have been really encouraged by the way the guys have played in Canada and Slovenia, there have been times when we've played really, really good basketball.
"We do have the skill set and the talent to do some damage in Athens.
"It will be a matter of us shooting the ball well and playing the defence that we have showed in patches."
Penney said the value of yesterday's 91-80 Alpos Cup win over Iran should not be underestimated.
"Against both Puerto Rico and Slovenia we felt like we put ourselves in positions to win but took our foot off in the final quarter.
"Against Iran they made a run but we withstood it and ended with a nice 10-point cushion. Just finishing with a win is a good way to go on to the qualifiers.
"Coming off a win is mentally important for us because we are a young team and as a team we haven't won a lot of games yet."
Penney has dominated the team's scoring statistics in the buildup to Athens but he said the team possessed enough scoring options to threaten.
"It is better for us if more guys can contribute and score. We are improving, we are starting to execute better.
"Other guys will step up. Pero [Cameron] is someone who will turn it up in games when the pressure is on while Lindsay Tait is more than capable, as he showed in the Australian series."
He thought the team's hopes next week rested with their defence.
"Our defence will be key for us.
"We are always going to get shots away because we have a good system and a lot of smart players and it will be a matter at the defensive end of locking teams up."
New Zealand are one of the better rated teams heading to Athens but their No 13 ranking was largely earned from 2002 to 2006. The rankings have not been updated since last year's European championship.
- NZPA
