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FROM INDY (DAY 9) - TALL BLACKS TAKE IT TO DEFENDING
CHAMPS - THE BATTLE FOR BRONZE IT ON
by Piet Van Hasselt
in Indianapolis, Indiana : USA
1. TALL BLACKS TAKE IT TO DEFENDING CHAMPS –
BATTLE FOR BRONZE IS ON
The number “58” will not be a pleasant memory
for the Burger King Tall Blacks when they reflect on
their Semi Final loss to Yugoslavia at the 2002 FIBA
World Basketball Championships, 89-78.
The Tall Blacks got off to their best start in the
tournament against the defending champions, jumping out
to a 14-point lead in the early stages of the second
quarter. However they were promptly brought back down to
earth when the Yugoslavs switched on the defensive
pressure and held NZ scoreless for a seven minute period
with the scoreboard display stalled on “58” for
the Kiwis. During that same time period, the Yugoslavs
were able to take the score from 57-58 to 70-58 and ease
away from the heroic Tall Blacks.
The Conseco Fieldhouse was transformed into downtown
Belgrade with at least 90% of the crowd sporting the
Blue, White and Red of Yugoslavia and offering their
European “passion” to the game. The Tall Blacks
were mentally tough though, with the negative whistling
and jeering have little effect on our boys. Meanwhile the
writer was struggling to hear himself think!
In the opening minutes, New Zealand stormed out to a 13-4
lead, shocking the partisan Yugoslav crowd, with
Buffalo-native Ed Book scoring eight of those points with
two huge three-pointers. Unfortunately Book was saddled
with foul trouble limiting his minutes for the rest of
the night.
The Tall Blacks were able to maintain this lead into
through the rest of the first half with Pero Cameron
showing some nifty moves and Penney hitting from the
outside to lead 48-39.
In the third quarter the Yugoslavs put on an offensive
blitz with Centre Vlade Divac scoring eight. The
Yugoslavs fired out a 23-2 run from mid-way through the
third to six minutes to go in the game, much to the
delight of their fans. Point Guard Mario Jaric showed
that he can score in bunches, scoring 14 third quarter
points and ending the game with a perfect four from four
from three-point territory. The Kiwis tried hard in the
fourth to come-back but this was not to be one of the
memorable come-from-behind victories we are accustomed to
seeing these houdini artists perform.
A balanced scoring attack from the Tall Blacks allowed
them to take it to Yugoslavia with four players reaching
double-figures. Kirk Penney ended the night with another
top-class performance and must have improved his spot on
NBA Draft lists after scoring 24 points, with four of six
shots from three-point land, against heralded opposition.
“The team has done an outstanding job considering we
were without Sean,” said Baldwin. Baldwin noted that
he has relied heavily on Cameron to fill some of the void
left by Marks and noted his excellent effort in putting
him on the court for all 40 minutes against the
Yugoslavs. “Somebody should’ve locked me up for
doing that to him!” commented Baldwin.
Despite the extraordinary achievement by the Tall Blacks
to make it this far into the tournament, and push the
Yugoslavs for most of the match, Coach Tab Baldwin and
Captain Pero Cameron said that the team was very
disappointed with the loss. “This is a big loss for
us. It really hurts. When there’s only a small band
of guys who believe, and a small country who believes, it
is very satisfying to get this far,” said Baldwin.
However Baldwin noted that it wouldn’t be until they
got home that they would start to reflect on their
success.
The Yugoslavs had a distinct height advantage, which they
used to out-rebound the Kiwis by 42-22 and held a massive
17-0 advantage in valuable second chance points (this
refers to any points scored after offensive rebounds).
The New Zealanders left all of their effort “out on
the floor” and must be commended for their
tremendous showing against the talent-stacked Yugoslavs.
What the Tall Blacks lacked in natural ability to their
opposition, they made up with tremendous heart, a
trademark of Baldwin-coached teams.
The Tall Blacks have the night to recover from the loss
and get ready for the Bronze medal match with Germany
(see below).
TALL BLACK SUPPORTERS: A patriotic NZ
crowd gathered at the Conseco Fieldhouse, but
unfortunately we were drowned out by the massive Yugoslav
community that had gathered in Indianapolis. However
through the incessant whistling from the Yugoslavians
when the Kiwis were on offence, a small but steady chant
of Kiwi could just be heard. A side note: On the way back
to their hotels, jubilant Yugoslavs walked on the roads,
stopping traffic on their way – hey fellas it’s
just a game!
Burger King Tall Blacks 78 (Penney 24,
Jones 17, Cameron 16, Book 10, Boucher 5, Dickel 4,
Hickey 2).
Yugoslavia 89 (Koturovic 18, Jaric 16,
Bodiroga 14, Divac 13, Gurovic 11, Stojakovic 10, Vujanic
6, Tomasevic 1).
Rebounds: NZ 22 (Cameron 8, Jones 5). Yugoslavia 42
(Jaric 8, Tomasevic 8).
Assists: NZ 14 (Dickel 5). Yugoslavia 23 (Jaric 6,
Bodiroga 4).
2. U-S-WHO? HOSTS DROP ANOTHER AGAINST SPAIN!
The basketball world as we once knew it has been upturned
with the third loss in four days for the mighty USA Team,
when the final buzzer sounded in a 81-75 loss to Spain
tonight. No one expected the USA team to lose this amount
of games coming into the tournament, and perhaps the
disappointment of being the first team since NBA players
were allowed in international teams to lose a game was in
the back of their minds again. The Spaniards were
delighted with the hard-worked victory and ended the game
on a 9-0 scoring run to the shock of the small US crowd.
The USA held the advantage throughout the game until the
fourth quarter when the Spaniards upped the ante,
outscoring the hosts 25-10 in the final 10 minutes. Point
Guard Juan Carlos Navarro scored 26 points for Spain and
Pau Gasol had 19, with nine in the last quarter, along
with 10 rebounds. Coach George Karl was disappointed with
the result and was circumspect in the post-match
interviews. No doubt he will take a lot of the flack for
the poor showing by the Americans, but perhaps a more
effective solution would be to analyse the entire system
behind the preparation for international competitions. A
group of excellent individuals don’t make a team -
no matter how good they are.
3. NZ CONTINUES TO DEMOLISH OPPOSITION IN QUARTER
BREAK COMPETITIONS
NZ stretched it’s record to a masterful eight
wins-two losses overall when a member of the “Rabid
Wekas” won another free throw frenzy against a
Yugoslavia representative, much to the displeasure of the
large Yugoslav crowd!
4. OTHER GAMES
SEMI-FINALS:
Yugoslavia beat NZ 89-78
Argentina beat Germany 86-80
PLACINGS:
5th/6th: Spain beat USA 81-75
7th/8th: Puerto Rico beat Brazil 91-84
9th/10th: Turkey beat Russia 91-86 – Russians
succumb in the fourth quarter.
11th/12th: Angola beat China 96-84 – Angola wins
this 8:30am match by getting up earlier than China (5am
compared to 7am!) – the coach this would give them
the edge and was right. This is Angola’s highest
ever placing at the World Champs.
5. UPCOMING DRAW – FINAL DAY
BRONZE MEDAL: New Zealand vs Germany (5:30am NZ TIME
– LIVE ON TVONE)
GRAND FINAL: Yugoslavia vs Argentina (8:00am NZ TIME
– LIVE ON TVONE)
6. NZ VS GERMANY PREVIEW
New Zealand vs Germany (Monday 10 September, 5:30am NZ
TIME – LIVE ON TVONE)
The Bronze medal is up for grabs when two of the
surprise-packages of the tournament meet on the final day
of competition. Neither team has won a medal before at
World Championships and pushed their highly favoured
opponents to the limit in the Semi Finals. While Germany
has one outstanding player, Dirk Nowizki the
tournament’s leading scorer and best forward, the
Kiwis starting five have proven that their ability to hit
the open man and execute at the offensive end mean they
can match any opposition. These two teams have played
once before the tournament at the Super Cup in Germany
and in the second round of the World Champs earlier this
week. Germany won both encounters by margins of nine and
20 respectively. In the world champs game, Germany used
its frontline height effectively with Ademola Okulaja
just shy of a triple-double. A key to beating Germany
will be trying to restrict the almost unguardable
Nowitzki, whose fall-away jumpers from his near seven
feet frame are unblockable. With the stakes this high
both teams will be out to make a name for themselves and
take advantage of the situation by bringing home a medal.
After tonight’s loss Baldwin spoke about the energy
reserves of the team: “What our team has done so far
is pretty superhuman. I know whatever they have left they
will give tomorrow.”
7. ARGENTINA VS YUGOSLAVIA PREVIEW
This final will pit without a doubt the two best teams
from the tournament having both recorded upsets over the
USA team and showing the spirit of champions in coming
from behind to snatch victories in their Semi Final
matches. The status of Argentine offensive star Emanuel
Ginobili will be key after suffering a sprained ankle in
the Semi. Coach Baldwin had this to say about the final:
“You will see an epic game tomorrow. You will be
seeing the two most complete teams tomorrow night.
Argentina will have to defend, and they are one of the
best defensive teams in the tournament. It will be a
great game, a classic game, and a close game.”
LOOK OUT FOR THE NEXT RAMS NEWS: Live from Indy
(Day 10)
REVIEW OF TALL BLACKS vs GERMANY (BRONZE MEDAL) &
FINAL
(This edition won’t be sent out until probably the
day after the final due to other commitments).
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