Basketball New Zealand

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By Scott Preston, Stuff
The NZ Tall Blacks‘ FIBA World Championship campaign will not end in Izmir after qualifying for the knockout phase in Istanbul this morning.

After New Zealand ground out a 71-61 win over Canada in day five’s opening in Izmir, Turkey, Spain then ensured they would finish in the top four of Group D by defeating Tab Baldwin’s Lebanon team 91-57 in the next game.

With a 2-2 record, following losses to unbeaten Lithuania and defending world champions Spain, then wins over Lebanon and Canada, the Tall Blacks would win any possible tie-breaker situations that could eventuate on the final day of the preliminary round tomorrow and could push as high as third in the group with a win over France.

While the tournament’s leading scorer Kirk Penney again lead the way for New Zealand with 18 points, the play of back-up centre Casey Frank at both ends of the floor, finishing with 14 points, helped boost the Tall Blacks to their second straight win at Halkapinar Arena.

The victory, coupled with Lebanon’s loss confirmed the Tall Blacks (2-2) in the last 16 and an eighth-finals date in Istanbul.

Frank, who played scant minutes in New Zealand’s opening losses to Lithuania and Spain, followed up his strong game against Lebanon with another against the height of the Canadians. The Wellington Saint played a pivotal role in holding Canada at arm’s length in the second half, getting his 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including both three-point attempts, and although only credited with one steal, was a menace down-low defensively.

“Just to have an impact at all is what everybody wants to do,” said Frank, who logged almost 21 minutes court-time and added four rebounds. “I don’t think you’ll find a player in the world that doesn’t think they should play more.

“For the whole tour, I’ve been working as hard as I can and do my job whenever I got called on. And in the last couple of games I’ve been called on a bit more and I’m happy to contribute any way I can.”

Besides Penney and Frank, veteran Phill Jones contributed 11 points, including a pair of threes, while Tom Abercrombie was held to seven points, but pulled down 10 rebounds as New Zealand out-rebounded the taller Canadians 41-32.

In a game only a mother could love, the Tall Blacks needed 39-minutes-and-change to win the defensive arm-wrestle.

Canada closed within four points (47-43) inside the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but were never able to exert any more pressure on the Tall Blacks. When Mika Vukona, who finished with six rebounds, scored on a tough offensive tip-in to increase the lead to 54-45 with four minutes to play, it appeared it would be enough to secure the win.

Like the win over Lebanon, the “Rabid Wekas” fan crew had their white singlets off, waving them over their heads.

With Canada’s Denham Brown going on a late scoring run, it needed back-to-back threes from Abercrombie and Penney, the last with 58 seconds remaining, to put New Zealand up 68-57 and finally put Canada away, ending their eighth-finals chances.

“It’s disappointing and frustrating because our team had high expectations and we didn’t meet them,” said Canada centre Joel Anthony, who finished with 13 points. “It’s very disappointing, we’ve been in all these games, apart from one, and haven’t been able to get a win.”

Jevohn Shepherd shot just 3-of-11 from the floor but made 9-of-13 free-throws for his team-high 15 points, while Brown hit a pair of late threes to get 12 points.

Both teams struggled for extended periods in the face of active defences, with Canada shooting 37% from the field an just 17% (2/12) on threes, while the Tall Blacks had shooting percentages of 41% and 32%.

The Tall Blacks committed 18 turnovers in the game, an area needing improvement before they face France in their final Group D game tomorrow (6am NZ time), while they were also on the low-end of a 34-20 count in points in the paint and a 13-3 fast break points deficit.

Canada, tired after running Lithuania and France close in their previous two games, were stung by the loss of shooting guard Andy Rautins, who flew back to the USA earlier in the morning to have his injured knee examined.

Sleepy was the best way to describe the first half from both teams on-court and from the benches. Neither showed much emotion and with the Tall Blacks using as much of the shot clock as possible on every possession and the referees cracking down on any off-ball contact, the game never had much pace or rhythm to it.

A Frank offensive rebound, off a pair of Penney free-throw misses, and put-back at the halftime buzzer gave the Tall Blacks a 35-28 lead.

After missing all five three-point attempts in the first quarter, Michael Fitchett and Pero Cameron hit back-to-back long-range shots early in the second period to give New Zealand a 19-12 lead at the 8:01 mark. Penney and Frank also hit from behind the arc as New Zealand went 4-of-9 in the quarter to forge the lead.

Canada took a brief lead at 22-21, with Anthony scoring down low, but the Tall Blacks answered with a 14-7 run sparked by the veteran mastery of Jones. He had to take over the play-making role after Penney picked up his second foul of the game on a curious offensive foul call coming off a screen.

Penney played just 25 minutes as he got on the wrong side of the officials, whistled for two offensive fouls.

The first quarter won’t ever be seen on a classic sports network any time soon as the teams combined for 19 total points and 8/26 shooting from the field. Canada were 4/14 and New Zealand not much better at 4/12, while the Tall Blacks also had four turnovers, three of those coming from rushing fast breaks.

The Tall Blacks were tentative offensively in the first period, deliberately running through their sets and showing a lack of aggression. At times, New Zealand looked confused on what sets they were supposed to be running and possessions took time getting started.

Luckily the defence was dominating at the other end, holding Canada to shots from the outside, which weren’t falling. Canada missed a chance to build a lead with the Tall Blacks offence out of sync, and against a stronger team, New Zealand could easily have found themselves playing out of a hole early.

NZ Tall Blacks 71 (Kirk Penney 18, Casey Frank 14, Phill Jones 11) Canada 61 (Jevohn Shepherd 15, Joel Anthony 13, Denham Brown 12)
Q 11-8
HT 35-28 (24-20)
Q3 47-41 (12-13)
FT 71-61 (24-20)

NZ v Canada box score (html 122kb)