Anonymous
Years ago
Great result for NZ. As long as the USA can beat Ukraine then NZ will go through.
Isaac Fotu had a great game and I reckon will put him on the NBA radar for draft in 2 years time. Lindsay Tait was also solid.
paul
Years ago
What a brutal, ugly game.
Horrible refereeing but geez it made it tense down the stretch, the Fins coming from 20 down to get within two with their deafening fans behind them.
Mika Vukona was simply amazing, he dominated with his hustle in the second half, finished with 5p, 12r and 3a. Fotu with 18 & 8 and Tait with 6p, 5a and a +- of 12.
So the Kiwis are through to the knockout rounds for the fourth straight WC, that's an awesome effort!
paul
Years ago
Dominican Republic beats Turkey tonight and NZ get third, other way around they get fourth.
paul
Years ago
No score doesn't matter. If Turkey win it goes USA, Turkey, Dominican Republic, New Zealand. If DR win it's USA, DR, NZ, Turkey.
The only other scenario is if Ukraine beat the USA, but I'm not even going to entertain that.
Bloody good effort. It would be awesome to see them win their next one, tough scrappy, D orientated squad.
Fun to watch... easy to barrack for.
Who will they get in the next round? To lazy to work it out myself.
Mystro
Years ago
Great effort from the Kiwi's to get through to the knockout stage without TeRangi/Henry/Pledger/Adams.
Fotu is developing into a hell of a player, his Coach at Hawaii Gib Arnold is in Spain to support him and must be salivating at his Junior Forwards play.
Vukona is a beast at any level.
NZ justifying why Oceania deserve 2x qualifying spots
Sean
Years ago
WTH was Jarrod Kenney doing out there in the 4th? Vucinic is lucky we won otherwise his rotations in the 4th would have got a brutal assesment.
MACDUB
Years ago
Fotu was an absolute beast last night.
Turkey beat DR so that means we come 4th and cross over with Lithuania in the round of 16.
Going to be a mountain of a task without a big man and Valucuinas will be licking his lips.
Anonymous
Years ago
Thought Fotu was outstanding especially in the first half. The lack of composure by both Webster brothers particularly at the end of the game shows to me that Tait needs to play more minutes especially at the crunch time. Also thought it was interesting that Fotu's college coach thinks that he will up as a small forward
Anonymous
Years ago
KP has been poor with his shooting the whole tournament. Thought last night a couple of times he tried to hard to score. If the Tall Blacks are to have any chance of getting to the quarters KP needs to start knocking down his shots.
Anonymous
Years ago
KP has been poor with his shooting the whole tournament. Thought last night a couple of times he tried to hard to score. If the Tall Blacks are to have any chance of getting to the quarters KP needs to start knocking down his shots.
MACDUB
Years ago
I actually loved what Penney did last night.
He came out and looked aggressive and looked to shoot right from the tip.
That's what we need.
Because if those shots in the opening 5mins drop for KP it spaces the floor and opens up the likes of the Websters, Abercrombie etc. For the other 35mins of the game as it forces teams to really attend to KP coming off those screens.
paul
Years ago
Correct. The pressure oppo teams have put on NZ (and how physical that pool was reffed) have made it hard for Penney and Abercrombie to get good looks. To have any chance against Lithuania those two have to get going a bit.
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