New Zealand no pushover despite absence of NBA player

New Zealand Tall Blacks. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

NEW Zealand, the third team in Group B of the Manila Olympic Qualifying that also includes France and Gilas Pilipinas, will not field in a single NBA veteran in the July 5 to 10 event, set at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

But that doesn’t mean the Kiwis will be easy pickings for anyone, especially after their recent form in the runup to the tournament that stakes a single berth in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games in August.

The Tall Blacks went undefeated in three games in China, whipping Belarus, Japan and the Chinese in the Atlas International Challenge in Suzhou province.

Steven Adams, Oklahoma City’s 7-foot starting center, opted not to join the Tall Blacks in Manila, leaving the slotman’s chores to team rookie Michael Karena.

Karena made all of his nine shots against the imposing Chinese frontline for 18 points in a 98-74 whipping of the team that proved too much for Gilas in the Finals of the Fiba Asia Championship last year in Changsha province.

Brothers Cory and Tai Webster, Isaac Fotu and Jordan Ngatai were the other bright performers for the Tall Blacks in Suzhou.

New Zealand coach Paul Henare, a former national team mainstay, is to make two more cuts for the squad’s final lineup.

Henare has nine holdovers from the team that placed 15th in the World Cup in Spain in 2014 as New Zealand shoots for an Olympic berth for the first time since the 2004 Summer Games.

Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin guided the Tall Blacks to one of their two Olympic stints. The other time the Tall Blacks were in the Games was in Sydney 2000.

Baldwin and the Filipinos battle the Tall Blacks on July 6, and it will be of the KO variety if Gilas fails to upset Tony Parker and France the day before. Musong R. Castillo