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FROM INDY (DAY 5) - KIWIS TROUBLE YANKS EARLY
by Piet Van Hasselt
in Indianapolis, Indiana : USA
1. KIWIS TROUBLE YANKS EARLY
In a much anticipated clash of the world’s biggest
Basketball superpower versus one of the world’s
emerging, the Tall Blacks proved once again they belong
at the World Basketball Championships with a powerful
first half of basketball. Early offensive tactics and
long-range accuracy allowed the Tall Blacks to shock the
hosts and lead 25-22 at the end of the first quarter, and
were within striking distance at half-time down just six,
42-48.
The multi-millionaire USA players turned up the defensive
pressure in the second half and ran away 110-62 winners,
delighting the crowd with some “showtime” in
the dying stages. In fact, the Americans went on 17-0 and
19-0 scoring runs and stopped the Tall Blacks from
scoring a field goal for 10:51 minutes during the second
half. Paul Pierce and Michael Finley led all scorers with
20 points each and a combined 10 three-point baskets. The
Americans won the battle of the boards 52-32 thanks to
the tireless work of Ben Wallace whose unselfish
contribution on the offensive and defensive glass make
the USA an excellent all-round team.
The Kiwis lacked height and athleticism without Sean
Marks for the second straight game due to an eye injury.
The USA team used this to their advantage spectacularly
blocking eight Kiwi shots in total and changing many
others in the second half.
Tall Blacks guard Kirk Penney proved he belonged with the
elite of the emerging talent of those playing in the USA,
compiling 16 points on six of 13 shooting. Penney will
begin his final year of basketball at the University of
Wisconsin in November and looks like he has a realistic
shot at becoming the second New Zealander to make the
NBA.
Captain Pero Cameron had a solid game from the high post,
running the triangle offence to perfection dishing out
six assists to the Kiwi sharpshooters. He also looked for
his own shot from deep and worked his magic on a great
spin move in the first half.
TALL BLACK SUPPORTERS: The Kiwis were in
full force tonight taking on and easily beating the
sparse USA crowd at the Conseco Fieldhouse – our
easiest victory yet from the stands. The best moment came
when the Kiwis were leading 14-13 and chants of
“look at the scoreboard!” were shouted.
Newspapers were used again during the announcement of the
line-up for the opposition. Shawn Marion of the USA had a
big smile at the end of the game when we started chanting
“see you in the final!” While there has been a
steady turnover of Tall Blacks supporters coming and
going from Indianapolis, the total number has remained
steady at around 60.
Burger King Tall Blacks 62 (Penney 16,
Cameron 13, Jones 11, Flavell 7, Hickey 6, Book 3, Dickel
3, Boucher 3).
USA 110 (Pierce 20, Finley 20, Marion
16, A, Miller 11, A. Davis 9, B. Davis 8, Brand 6, R.
Miller 5, Wallace 5, Lafrenz 5, Williams 5).
Rebounds: NZ 32 (Hickey 6, Cameron 5, Book 5, Boucher 5).
USA 52 (Wallace 13, Pierce 8, Brand 7, Marion 7).
Assists: NZ 14 (Cameron 6, Dickel 5). USA 29 (B. Davis 6,
Finley 5).
2. COACH BALDWIN DISAPPOINTED WITH SECOND HALF
Coach Baldwin was happy with the effort in the first
half, but was disappointed with the way the game
progressed in the second half. “We tried every trick
in the book, which is what we had to do but it was not
enough. The water on the other side of the dam is pretty
big and cold, and we did not have enough fingers to hold
it and when it broke it was what everybody expected. We
are very glad to be here and it has been a fabulous
experience.”
Kirk Penney summarised the game: “It’s an
honour to play the United States. In the second half they
turned it up and got their transition game going and it
was c’est la vie.”
3. US COACH KARL APPLAUDS UNIQUENESS OF NZ STYLE
“I think New Zealand was a unique opponent. They
play very creatively, especially on offense. It felt like
we improved as the game went on, especially on
defense,” said Coach George Karl. He was also
impressed with the play of Pero Cameron, Kirk Penny and
Mark Dickel and felt the absence of Sean Marks was a big
hit for NZ. He felt that NZ was well coached and they
“play their asses off!”
USA Forward Ben Wallace: “I think New Zealand was a
very disciplined team. They ran their sets well and
executed their plays. In the second half I think we did a
great job staying with our man and forcing them to take
tough shots.”
4. “RABID WEKA” WINS QUARTER BREAK
COMPETITION
A member of the “Rabid Wekas”, a name they came
up with themselves, reigned supreme in the now famous
quarter break competition. In a free throw contest the
“Rabid Weka” won by a score of four to two to
bring the overall record to five wins and just two
losses.
5. OTHER GAMES
GROUP E
Puerto Rico beat Spain 73-65 – Championship surprise
package Puerto Rico cause another upset, to add to the
scalp of Yugoslavia yesterday.
Turkey beat Angola 86-66 – Turkey gets going but
will need to beat Yugoslavia tomorrow to qualify for the
quarters.
Yugoslavia beat Brazil 90-69 – Yugoslavia decides to
play their NBA players from the beginning, and blew out
to an early 20-point margin.
GROUP F
USA beat NZ 110-62
Argentina beat Germany 86-77 – Argentina survives a
late comeback from the Germans and looks set to push the
Americans in a clash of the unbeaten tomorrow.
Russia beat China 68-95 – Russia resurrects their
championship chances by thumping the Yao Ming-led China.
A win against Germany and a NZ loss tomorrow could give
them a spot in the quarters.
PLACINGS
13-14th places – Canada beat Venezuela 98-97 –
Venezuela’s last second short jumper rims out to
give Canada their second win of the tournament.
15-16th places – Algeria beat Lebanon 100-70 –
Lebanon picks up the “wooden spoon” by a large
margin.
6. POINTS TABLES
NOTE: In an earlier e-mail I said that the points for the
second round are calculated only against the teams that
qualified from the first round. However upon further
review of the tournament rules, all games played count to
the teams total in the second round.
GROUP E – with one game to play
Spain (4 wins –1 loss) 9 points, Puerto Rico (4-1)
9pts, Brazil (4-1) 9pts, Yugoslavia (3-2) 8pts, Turkey
(2-3) 7pts, Angola (1-4) 6pts.
A log-jam at the top will be decided on the last day of
second round action. The fourth spot will play the USA or
Argentina.
GROUP F – with one game to play
USA (5-0) 10pts, Argentina (5-0) 10pts, Germany (3-2)
8pts, NZ (2-3) 7pts, Russia (2-3) 7pts, China (1-4) 6pts.
7. NZ VS CHINA & SCENARIOS
Live on TVOne (Thursday 5 September, 9:30am –
repeated at 4pm).
Caoch Baldwin states “Our job is to go out and beat
China. There are a million reasons why we want to treat
this as the biggest game ever.”
The equation for NZ is a simple as this: If New Zealand
can defeat China and Germany can beat Russia (played at
the other venue and tipping off an hour later) the Kiwis
will qualify in the fourth spot in Group F for the
Quarter Finals and will play the number one qualifier
from Group E.
However if Russia defeats Germany the equation gets a
little more difficult to determine. In this scenario, NZ
could still beat China, but not progress to the Quarters.
All three teams would have three wins, and it would go to
a countback on points scored vs points against for a
“goal average” (see below). Two spots would be
up for grabs (3rd and 4th in the group). I haven’t
worked out the exact maths of these options – make
sure you catch Bob Manthei on TVOne’s coverage for a
full run-down.
Here’s the official rules for tie-breakers involving
three teams at the World Champs - tough to explain via
e-mail :)
1) The first tie-breaker is the record of the teams in
games against each other.
2) If all teams have an equal record (eg. 1 win-1 loss)
the points scored and points against in the games between
the teams are tabulated to work out the “goal
average”. The teams with the higher “goal
average” qualifies highest. The equation for this
“goal average” is (points scored for divided by
points against).
8. NZ OFFICIAL REFEREES SECOND MATCH
The New Zealand representative referee, Stan Battock,
refereed his second match of the World Champs today which
was the playoff for 15/16th places (Lebanon and Algeria)
with NBA referee David Jones from the USA. Battock also
controlled the China vs Algeria clash on day two of the
champs.
9. TALL BLACKS MAKE SPORTS ILLUSTRATED WEBSITE
NZ is making a real splash in the US media at the World
Champs – check out these pages on the web page of
Sports Illustrated:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/alexander_wolff/news/2002/08/31/hoop_life/
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/alexander_wolff/news/2002/09/02/hoop_life/
LOOK OUT FOR THE NEXT RAMS NEWS: Live from Indy (Day 6)
REPORTS FROM TALL BLACKS vs CHINA
OTHER KEY MATCH-UPS ON DAY 6
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