Kent Brockman
Years ago
"Hammer quits in style" by leading is to the 2nd w
This is a joke ..how bad are the east coast bball followers
Hammer quits in style
Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 09:40AM
Basketball Australia
Shane Heal lit it up in his final Olympic appearance in the green and gold as the Australian men's basketball team ended their Olympic campaign on a high note with a victory over archrivals New Zealand in the playoff for ninth position.
The match turned into a one-man show for retiring guard Heal, who hit a tournament record nine threes as the Boomers comfortably won the battle of the Oceania teams, 98-77.
Playing in his fourth Olympic Games, 34-year-old Heal had a total of 30 points with 9-of-14 shooting from beyond the arc to guide Australia past the Tall Blacks.
Heal was on target early as Australia split the game open with a 13-0 first quarter run that took the score to 28-15 at the end of the period.
The Boomers led 48-34 at half time and when the game restarted Heal was there to finish New Zealand with three consecutive shots from downtown, as the fourth placed team of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games beat the fourth placed team of the 2002 World Championships.
Heal had hit an astounding nine of ten attempts from three point range with four minutes remaining in the third quarter before missing his last four efforts.
For Australia, Matthew Nielsen added 14 points and CJ Bruton 11 points, while Phill Jones led New Zealand with 26 points.
lifted from nbl.com.au
