Poor form NZ HQ

How come it is NZ who forced him to play and not the Bullets? Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black

Good to see a bit of passion tbh. Vukona is crazy tough for wanting to play.

Meanwhile Brisbane supporters broke down during today's game after Lemanis forced them to endure another scoreless game from prized off-season recruit Jason Cadee.

Weird place to bring up Adnam. Only thing they have in common is that Adnam plays the role Cadee SHOULD be playing - backup guard.

Bad run of misfortune for the Bullets. We got lucky playing against a Vukona-less Bullets (everything seems to be going our way!) but why still play Cadee for so many minutes? Only have yourself to blame for that one Andrej.

What really teared Andrej up was seeing Cadee's +/- for the series and knowing there is more of that to come.

Injuries happen all the time, don't blame NZ basketball, look at yourself first.

This doesn't mean it cost Brisbane a chance to win the series or even a single game.

speaking with Radio Sport, [Basketball NZ chief executive Iain Potter] denied the allegations that the national body had threatened Vukona to play, slamming Lemanis' accusations as a story from "fantasy land".
"It's a nice bit of theatre from Andrej," Potter said. "[It's] really disappointing that he's decided to go with that ... his emotions have got the better of him after a loss.
"Andrej is fully aware that a country can call on players and if they don't make themselves available then there is a possibility of sanctions, he's fully aware of that and he's just strung those things together.
...
"I don't know where he's made up this stuff," Potter said. "We never threatened sanctions, they could've withheld Mika on medical grounds and we would've simply gone through a process to evaluate the medical reasons. We would never put Mika in jeopardy.

Vukona has a partially torn Achilles.

Strange take, Lovebroker, considering rest is what mitigates injury risk. Strange take indeed

Lovebroker if you had a brain he was injured prior to the window hence why Brisbane didnt want him to play.

Potter said it was essential for Basketball NZ to call on Vukona and other top players to assist New Zealand in improving their seeding for the World Cup, but noted that had the Bullets management notified them of Vukona's injury, the organisation would likely have allowed him to stay in Brisbane.

NZ played him 21 mins against Lebanon and sent him home along with Pledger (leaving Smith - Milner behind).

We said that if they're fit and they are available then we want them and what we did with Mika and Reuben [Te Rangi] and Alex [Pledger] is we said 'look it's really essential we win one game in this window, we need to have a good team ... what we'll do is we'll take them away for the first game and we'll send them back'.
"We did that out of respect to those three players to let them get back early, let them get back fresh and have them in the best possible condition they could be for their clubs

And if you watch game 1 from opening tip off MV was not his usual self from the start and after a simple drop step signals to the bench late in the first to come out.

Lemanis' schoolmates can now call him Crybaby Lemonhead.