NEW ZEALAND TALL BLACKS READY FOR VITAL GAME AGAINST GILAS PILIPINAS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 06 Jul 2016
The New Zealand Tall Blacks are all but ready for their crucial opening game against Gilas Pilipinas who gave 5th ranked France a scare on opening day in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila against a passionate hometown crowd of 20,000 fans.
Following an injury scare that Corey Webster may not make the line-up, coach Henare indicated he had made tremendous progress and would be ready to suit up against the Filipinos whose backcourt tandem of Jayson Castro and Terrence Romeo outplayed their French counterparts for long stretches in their opening game.
The Tall Blacks coach who faces former New Zealand mentor Tab Baldwin, said the Tall Blacks ?match up reasonably well against Gilas Pilipinas who ?size-wise compare to us pretty well? with Isaac Fotu and Mika Vukona ?always play bigger than the stat sheet might suggest. It will be a big battle? against naturalized player Andray Blatche, Junmar Fajardo and Troy Rosario.
Taking a cue from Rody Duterte who beat tremendous odds in winning the presidency, the national basketball team showed the same fighting heart in giving fancied France, ranked No. 5 in the world, a scare in the opening game of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena before losing 93-84 in coach Baldwin ?prepared them well both mentally and emotionally to take on the French team ?loaded with NBA stars.
However, both Lipa and veteran TV analyst Andy Jao who will work the New Zealand game tomorrow expressed concern about the fact that New Zealand had a chance to scout Gilas and that could be a plus factor for them.
Jao said ?I?m so wary because we played them before and beat them, but that won?t be easy this time. He noted that Jeff Chan is a great shooter but has a problem guarding his opponents while Bobby Ray Parks ?has heart and will be a factor in the future.?
San Antonio superstar Tony Parker led a 9-2 French which cut a 10 point lead to one, 41-40 before another Spurts star Boris Diaw tied the count with two free throws before naturalized player Andray Blatche who was outstanding in the first quarter lost the ball enabling Parker to get by Terrence Romeo and score easily for a 45-41 lead.
France take a day off on Wednesday before taking on New Zealand in Thursday with a win sending them into the semi finals while Gilas Pilipinas must ride the crest of their stirring performance against France to hopefully overcome the Tall Blacks of New Zealand to keep the country?s hopes alive.
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