paul
Years ago

NZ v Angola - FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament

NZ beat Angola 68-64 today in a super display - under their new coach Angola are a better unit than at the 2010 WCs.

Sadly, the Kiwis fall 9 points short of qualifying for the QFs and will be ruing a lot of missed opportunities in both games, but particularly the first 5mins and last 5mins against Macedonia where they were -20.

Bartlett, Tait, Henry and Vukona were superb defensively, Henry did an amazing job on Olimpio Cipriano keeping him to 11p on 4/12. The offence was driven by Webster, Henry and Loe with Tait running the show well. Some interesting refereeing left Vucinic running his bench deep into the fourth and that hurt at both ends.

Webster had 21p on 7/12 (5/6 3p) and 4r in 24mins.
Henry had 15p on 5/10 (3/7 3p), 6r and 2a in 27mins.
Pledger had 6p on 2/6, 9r (5 offensive), 2s and 2b in 22mins.
Vukona had 2p on 1/10, 6r, 3a and 3s in 26mins.
Bartlett had 2p on 1/3 (0/2 3p), 5r and 3a in 18mins.
Kenny had 2p on 0/5 (0/2 3p) and 2a in 17mins, but played great defence.
Trueman didnt play.

Of the non-NBLers:
Loe had 13p on 5/8 (2/3 3p) in 17mins.
Tait had 5p on 2/6 (1/3 3p), 5a and 1to in 24mins.

Topic #28682 | Report this topic


Cell  
Years ago

Tai Webster was great, his shooting was fantastic and he had several strong takes to the hoop. Made several great kickouts to teammates that just didnt get finished. Good to see him cut down on the turnovers too.

Rob Loe was also impresive knocking in his shots. I can see him being a large factor for the Tall Blacks for many years to come.

Leon Henry also played well and also thought Jarod Kenney was solid. Alex Pledger had some good moments but had a couple easy shots he needed to finish around the hoop.

Mika Vukona and Lindsey Tait both really needed to step up more than they did. Vukona found it tough today, giving away the ball too much and missing most of all of his jump shots.

We gave up a few baskets to start the 3rd which didnt help the points differential.

I think Vucinic should have put either Braswell or Marcel Jones in at the natraulised spot. Frank didnt do anything and both the other 2 guys are scorers which was needed.

Overall it was a great effort by an undermaned squad. I think perhaps a coaching change may be in order.

Reply #369022 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

After that Vucinic should get a medal, not the sack. What he does with this team is amazing. This tourny again shows they are a legit top 20 team, which is incredible for a country with only 10 full time players, and only 4-5 of them here.

Agree Vukona needed to hit more shots, but he was very good around the court and with his leadership, which was missing yesterday. He will just never be a reliable scorer, that's not his game.

Tait is already stepping up to play as well as he does, he was rock solid today - 5a and 1to is excellent. Getting a couple more shots to drop would have been nice, but his 5p were all down the stretch when Angola looked like they would run over the top.

The good thing is with Webster and Bartlett emerging a lot of pressure will be taken off him, because he isnt good enough to carry the point on his own.

Reply #369024 | Report this post


Mystro  
Years ago

Great win shame it wasn't enough to get them a spot at the Olympics. Tai Webster at 17 was pretty impressive shooting 83% from behind the arc.
NZ may have a strong team in the next couple of years if they can merge the old guard of Penney and Vukona with the likes of Steve Adams and Tai Webster.
Make for a much more competitive oceania series at least

Reply #369025 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

Surely the whole scoring points qualification system is outdated and even below an under 16s tournament given what we know about the game in 2012.

Reply #369027 | Report this post


Mystro  
Years ago

http://london2012.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/12/olym/news/p/nid/52531/article.html

Short interview with Tai

Reply #369032 | Report this post


Vart  
Years ago

Russia playing the best basketball at this tournament, behind Kirilenko. They should smash Angola in the quarter finals, and should take one of the spots to London. The other two spots still up for grabs. Lithuania looking shaky after their loss to Nigeria today. Greece are playing Puerto Rico now to determine first and second place in group A.

Reply #369033 | Report this post


Cell  
Years ago

The tall blacks game against Macedonia was after the Angola win over Macedonia. Surely the coaching staff should have known points differential would come into it if they lost the first game.

Vucinic started the 1st game with Josh Bloxham who didnt even get on the court today. He also played Trueman for 19 minutes (also saw no action today). He only played Vukona 13 minutes! You can not tell me the coaching staff did everything possible to win or keep the score close.

Picking Casey Frank for his experience then only playing him 13mpg is just a bad call I think.

Agree that Tait cant carry the point on his own. He is really not a starting international pg so his numbers were okay. Just with him being one of the most experienced guys Id have liked more.

Anyway Im looking foward to a few years in the future when Adams, Loe, Pledger, Fotu, Webster, Abercrombie etc are there with Penney and Vukona. I reckon it should make for a good side.

Reply #369055 | Report this post




You need to be a registered user to post from this location. Register here.



Close ads
Serio: Tourism photography and videography
Little Streaks - The fun and interactive good-habits app designed especially for kids.

Advertise on Hoops to a very focused, local and sports-keen audience. Email for rates and options.

Recent Posts



.


An Australian basketball forum covering NBL, WNBL, ABL, Juniors plus NBA, WNBA, NZ, Europe, etc | Forum time is: 7:41 pm, Tue 19 Mar 2024 | Posts: 968,026 | Last 7 days: 754