On the last preview/tune-up games prior to FIBA Asia ,three FIBA
Asia contending teams played almost simultaneously at 7pm 26,th July, Manila time. The 4th team involved the Tall
Blacks while not part of FIBA Asia was a good yard stick to judge these teams
as the same team played Gilas just a week ago.
In that Gilas vs Tall Blacks game , Gilas played the Tall
Blacks to a practical draw (loss by 1 with a controversial call with 2 seconds
to go), the Tall Blacks on the other
hand loss to China by 1 on a last second shot by Wang Zhizhi , last night. The Tall Blacks were leading all the way ,
until the referees basically decided the game , giving the Chinese a 25-8 edge
in free throw attempts.
As assistant coach Paul Henare said :
“You
never want to harp on about it, but when you come to play China in China, you
have to expect some flak from the refs,” said Henare. “It’s hard to explain to
people back home without it seeming like sour grapes.
“You expect it, you just have to be that much better and for
most of these two games, I thought we were.”
This might sound ironic but watching both game live (the Tall Blacks vs the Chinese and vs Gilas),
I came away thinking Gilas actually was more competitive than the Chinese
despite the end game results. “Context
of where the games were played and how the referees actually called the game
had a lot to do with it”
Here are a few takes from the Tall Blacks , Chinese games
worth mentioning :
·
Despite the Tall Blacks being undersize by close
to 3 inches in every position, the Tall Blacks out-rebounded their rivals
25-15, restricting them to just one offensive rebound. Two of our main bigs Franks and Anthony fouled
out , leaving 6’7 Vukona to play center ,
It is interesting to note that while Gilas was not as tall as the
Chinese, Marcus and Pingris held their
own against the Tall Black front line .
·
6’1” guard Corey Webster who top scored for the
Tall Blacks (19 pts) and had 3, three pointers was basically unstoppable of the
dribble and moving without the ball (kick outs and handoffs) vs China. Those characteristics are very similar to the
strengths of Gilas brings to the table .
While I won’t go as far as saying that Gilas is better side
than China, I will say that the Chinese can be beaten by Gilas in Manila.
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