Basketball: Tall Blacks have room to grow

The Tall Blacks need more Phill Jones (left) and less CJ Bruton. Picture / Kenny Rodger

The good news for the Tall Blacks following their 82-69 defeat by Australia on Wednesday is that they left so much out of their game that there is huge room for improvement.

Backs to the wall as they go in to the second of three world championships qualifiers at Manukau today, they need to, and can, defend better, drive more to the basket to score and improve their shooting accuracy.

The same teams line up today as played on Wednesday, with Tall Blacks shooting guard Kirk Penney still feeling the effects of a back strain suffered in training. He has taken limited part in practices.

The Australians will again be able to exploit a size advantage, but it has been their smallest man, CJ Bruton, who has been most effective, top-scoring in their last two encounters.

Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin admitted he was at a loss as to how to stop Calvin Junior. The defence had been "right in his grille" as he executed some brilliant shots, but Bruton was in a hot run of form.

Short of sitting Bruton on his backside early in the game so he kept watching for it again - which he hadn't resorted to for many years in his coaching career, Baldwin said - he was short on ideas.

The series winner takes top seeding from Oceania into the pooling for the FIBA World Championships in Japan next year. The higher seeding means grouping in an "easier" pool, if there are such things at world championships.

For the Tall Blacks, though, it could mean making the final rounds - or not.

There was disappointment in the Tall Blacks' camp after Wednesday's game. They knew they had not played to their potential. They will have worked on grabbing more of the ball under the Australians' hoop and re-assembling their attack.

They need more points from front-liners Ed Book and Tony Rampton and guards Phill Jones and Lindsay Tait.

Much was made of the physical approach of both teams in the lead-up to the series. At Trusts Stadium that aspect didn't dominate, the speed of the game early on taking off the bumping edge. But today the Tall Blacks can be expected to bring more of that into their game as they try to unsettle the Aussies.

The Boomers are in a rebuilding stage. Five of their players are veterans of Athens 2004, whereas nine of the Tall Blacks were there. Six of those were at Sydney in 2000 and then the 2002 world champs in Indianapolis.

Baldwin was wary of placing too much reliance in the confidence and cohesion that gave the team and the comfort they felt in playing with each other.

There was always the worry that feeling comfortable could lead to a mindset that things would come right because of it; that improvement would just happen because they knew each other so well.

Also on the line is the Al Ramsay Shield named for the first FIBA Oceania secretary general. New Zealand have won only two of 39 games since the Oceania series was first contested in 1971, both in 2002.

OCEANIA SERIES

Game 1: Wednesday at Trusts Stadium, Waitakere, Boomers won 82-69.

Game 2: Today 3pm - Pacific Events Centre Manukau. Live on TV2.

Game 3: Tomorrow 3pm - Edgar Centre, Dunedin. Live on TV2.

Teams

NZ Tall Blacks: Pero Cameron (c), Mark Dickel, Aaron Olson, Lindsay Tait, Kirk Penney, Mike Homik, Phill Jones, Dillon Boucher, Mika Vukona, Ed Book, Craig Bradshaw, Tony Rampton.

Australian Boomers: CJ Bruton (c-c), Glen Saville (c-c), Pero Vasiljevic, Jacob Homes, Brad Newley, Alex Laughton, Brad Davidson, Jason Smith, Mark Worthington, David Andersen, Matt Neilsen, Wade Helliwell.

Referees: Carl Jungebrand (Finland), Michael Aylen (Aust), Dallas Pickering (NZ).