Nowitzki Nemesis
Tagged in: Tall Blacks
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Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Dirk Nowitzki and familiar foes Germany stand between the Tall Blacks and a spot in the Beijing Olympics.
New Zealand has drawn the Germans and relatively unknown Cape Verde of Africa in pool play of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men in Athens, July 14-20.
Nowitzki and friends have become something of a bogey team for the Tall Blacks, beating them three times during the 2002 world championship campaign that catapulted the Kiwis into the world spotlight. Germany defeated New Zealand twice in that tournament, including the bronze medal playoff, and also prevailed in pool play of the 2006 FIBA World Championships in Japan.
After finishing fifth at last year’s Eurobasket championships, they are currently ranked ninth in the world, tied with Australia and four spots ahead of the Tall Blacks.
Cape Verde are ranked 56th in the world, but earned their spot at the qualifying tournament by finishing third at the 2007 FIBA African Championships ahead of more fancied Nigeria and Senegal.
New Zealand must beat one of these opponents to progress to the quarterfinals where they will likely meet either world championship runners-up Greece or a Brazilian team loaded with NBA talent.
The top three teams from the tournament will fill the final spots available at Beijing.
“As we expected, it will a tough road to qualify from a tournament that is as strong as the actual Olympics,” says coach Nenad Vucinic. “There are plenty of teams here that, on their day, can win a world title.
“Germany have always been a difficult team for us. We have yet to get within 20 points of them, so they present a challenge we are looking forward to.
“Cape Verde are unknown now, but I don’t think they will be unknown for long. They have a lot of players in top US colleges … they will be a difficult proposition for us, but they are a team we are targeting to beat.”
Vucinic warned that 2008 would mark the start of a rebuilding programme for the Tall Blacks, aimed at qualifying for the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey.
“We have been relying on the same players, in some cases, for more than a decade. The reality is we need to rebuild and it was going to be difficult for us whenever that happened … we chose this year.”
FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Athens, Greece
July 14-20, 2008
Group A: Brazil, Greece and Lebanon
Group B: Cape Verde, Germany and New Zealand
Group C: Canada, Korea and Slovenia
Group D: Cameroon, Croatia and Puerto Rico
Preliminary Round
July 14
Greece v Lebanon
New Zealand v Cape Verde
Korea v Slovenia
Croatia v Cameroon
July 15
Lebanon v Brazil
Cape Verde v Germany
Slovenia v Canada
Cameroon v Puerto Rico
July 16
Brazil v Greece
Germany v New Zealand
Canada v Korea
Puerto Rico v Croatia
July 17
Rest Day
Quarter-Finals
July 18
A1 v B2
B1 v A2
C1 v D2
D1 v C2
Semi-Finals
July 19
The two winners of the semi-Finals will qualify for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Finals
July 20
Third/fourth playoff
The winner will qualify for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
