KEY POINTS:
The Tall Blacks head for a break from their gruelling schedule before relaunching into the final leg of their Beijing Olympics qualifying campaign in Europe this week.
With injuries in the side coming right, coach Nenad Vucinic plans to rest his team for a couple of days in
Croatia before resuming training to prepare for a match against Finland on Sunday.
New Zealand and Australia face off in a three-match Oceania series in Australia from August 20, with the winners taking a direct route to next year's Olympic Games in Beijing.
Vucinic said his team were on track on their hectic buildup tour of China and Europe despite their third loss from as many games in a four-nation tournament in Latvia today.
They went down 74-82 to Latvia last night (NZ time) after losses to Belarus (74-77) and Lithuania (81-94), who included three National Basketball Association (NBA) players.
The Tall Blacks played in a similar tournament in China earlier, only a few days after a three-match series against Venezuela in New Zealand.
"We have had three weeks in training camp, 11 games in the last 18 days and 26 hours of travel from China to Latvia," Vucinic said.
"It is very important we get some recovery. Their bodies need it. The guys are in very good spirits, but they need a bit of rest."
Centre Craig Bradshaw was starting to feel more comfortable in combinations constantly changed by Vucinic, shooting four three-pointers today.
Though he had early foul trouble, Bradshaw topscored with 16 points in probably his most convincing performance of the tour so far.
"Coming into camp late was difficult for Craig, but he is getting a little more confident now with the plays and the system," Vucinic said.
The match was close throughout and the New Zealanders enjoyed a 61-60 edge heading into the final quarter.
Crucial turnovers again hurt them in the final quarter and Latvia's advantage swelled in the final seconds when the tall Blacks sent them to the free-throw line in a bid to regain possession.
"It was a very good game.
"Both teams played with passion and for us, it was back-to-back good performances.
"We probably turned the ball over too much, we had 18 turnovers to their 16 and our shooting percentages were okay (35 per cent three-pointers and 50 per cent two-pointers).
"Having two Latvian referees was a little suspect. The free-throw count favoured Latvia 32-16, which was quite a significant difference."
Latvia are ranked 35th in the world, but have some quality players, including 2.13m tall centre Andris Biedrins - an NBA starter with the Golden State Warriors.
In the past two weeks they have beaten Hungary (61-53), Ukraine (80-69), Belarus (84-52) and world No 5 Lithuania (84-83).
"They are a good team and they're playing well, probably a little above their weight, and they were certainly well supported by a hostile crowd," Vucinic said.
Mika Vukona was again the team's main source of rebounds. He took over the offensive end while point guard Mark Dickel continued to make progress after just a couple of days with the team, scoring his first points of the campaign.
"I'm really happy with the progress the team is making.
"Obviously they have had to adjust to me as a new coach, but they are doing really well.
"We had some bad games along the way, like against China, but it's good to see us starting to hit some form. We are where we want to be."
Meanwhile, Australia are also on a buildup tour of Europe
They beat Senegal 78-57 in Italy to snap a three-game losing streak.
Perth Wildcat Damien Ryan topscored with 16 points, with Russian-based star David Andersen adding 15 and NBA draft pick Brad Newley adding 12.
Scores:- Latvia 82, NZ Tall Blacks 74 (Craig Bradshaw 16, Kirk Penney 11, Pero Cameron 11). Quarter time 12-17, halftime 41-40 (29-23), threequarter time 60-61 (19-21), fulltime 82-74 (22-13).
- NZPA
