Basketball: Oceania series will be physical, says Baldwin

Tab Baldwin

SYDNEY - New Zealand coach Tab Baldwin says everyone, including the referees, expects this week's Oceania basketball series against Australia to be physical.

"I think if you watch the All Blacks and the Wallabies last night, you know the nature of the two communities," Baldwin said after his side beat Lithuania 86-77 in Sydney to finish their Four Nations tournament, won by Australia.

"We may say the Aussies are our greatest rivals, but they are also our greatest friends -- regional proximity and similar cultures lend themselves to that. That familiarity can breed real contempt when you go out on court, so the expectation is it will be physical.

"Referees probably understand that in this part of the world, they know that for a lot of these guys their culture is physical, consequently we get physical matches. I don't think the players expect anything different."

Baldwin praised the Boomers as one of the few teams in the world "who don't start crying" about the physical play when they take on the Tall Blacks.

"They are a tough bunch of nuts and I rate their chances in any game anywhere in the world."

He said losing to Australia on Friday night was difficult to take, "but hopefully it was a good lesson for us" with the three-test Oceania series starting in Auckland on Wednesday.

"Sometimes it is not always the worst thing to lose to an opponent before you play them again in a big game," he said.

The Tall Blacks left for New Zealand soon after yesterday's match and the coach has already stated that he expects any psychological edge Australia might take from the Four Nations win to be evened out by the Tall Blacks playing at home.

He said he would be checking today on the fitness of point guard Paul Henare, who had to sit out the Four Nations series with a thigh injury.

But he cautioned that Henare was unlikely to play in the Oceania matches, which will determine the region's seeding for the world championships in Japan next year.

"The word I'm getting is that he is not going to be ready, so I would say this is pretty much the squad we are continuing with."

Kirk Penney sat out yesterday's game after injuring his back in pre-match warmups. Baldwin said he didn't think it was serious, but Penney would be checked out today.

"He couldn't get comfortable after he felt a little ping in his back and stretched it out. It was really his decision not to play."

Baldwin was pleased with the development of point guard Lindsay Tait in the Four Nations series.

"He gives us a lot of offensive productivity that compensates for his lack of experience and maybe his general nous on how to run a team at the defensive end."

The win against Lithuania was a comfortable one with the Tall Blacks asserting their superiority in the second quarter and going up 15 points early in the final quarter before a minor rally by their opponents.

Captain Pero Cameron was more dominant than he was against the Australians, topscoring with 22 points.

He said afterwards he expected the Oceania series to be "tough, really tough."

- NZPA