So... the Tall Blacks played over the weekend. There wasn’t much of a deal made about it, in fact you’d be forgiven for not even realising those games were happening, but they did. The second one was a bit of a sitter against Guam which in which they eventually eased to a 19-point victory but the first one... mate. The first one was against Australia in Brisbane and with a 108-98 win the TBs marked new head coach Pero Cameron’s first game in charge in style and claimed their first win over the Aussies since 2009. Decent weekend’s work, then.

The main reason nobody really made a fuss about these games was down to their pretty slim relevance. These were only Asia Cup qualifiers, a tournament that both New Zealand and Australia will have no dramas whatsoever in getting to even as 35 teams are narrowed down into 16 finalists. There have already been a bunch of preliminary qualifiers and now the Boomers and Tall Blacks find themselves in a four-team group where everyone plays each other home and away and afterwards the top two teams qualify automatically for the main tournament and the third placed team goes into the final round where four out of six teams will get through. Guam and Hong Kong are the other teams in the group.

So, like, even with Australia losing that game they’re still well on track to make it through without blinking thanks to a 115-52 win versus Hong Kong a few days later. Meanwhile the Tall Blacks are basically through already and will be beyond doubt with a couple wins over Hong Kong when those ones come around... the next games in this stage being in November. Quite a while away, to be fair. And even these ones weren’t the most conveniently poised with the Breakers having only just finished their NBL season and playoffs for those kiwi players who did crack that top four about to begin (Jarrod Kenny missed the Guam game to return to Cairns to prepare for the semis).

For Pero Cameron the focus was a little more about continuing the preparation for Olympic qualifying in June. Having missed out on automatic progress to Tokyo at the World Cup last year, the Tall Blacks therefore have to travel to Serbia for a six-team tournament (one of four which will determine the final four spots at the Olympics) in which the top two teams from two groups of three advance to the semis and only the winner of the final qualifies. As in: one team out of the six goes through. New Zealand are drawn with the Dominican Republic and hosts Serbia in group A with Puerto Rico, Italy, and Senegal on the other side. That would be the same Serbian team that contains Nikola Jokic. The top ranked team amongst all those who haven’t already qualified. The same Serbian team that beat the Tall Blacks 88-78 in a World Cup warm-up game back in August. And they’re hosting the group. Jeezus, man. Give us a break.

Hence these recent games, as pleasing as the results were, kinda pale in comparison to the bigger picture of what the Tall Blacks are trying to achieve this year. Still, international games are never taken lightly. Particularly not by the Tall Blacks who have an increasingly useful amount of depth these days and an excellent culture of Next Man Up mentality, trusting that whoever takes the court will do their best to take care of business. Among the players not available for these Asia Cup qualifiers were Tom Abercrombie, Corey Webster, Alex Pledger, Tai Webster, Isaac Fotu, Jack Salt, Max Darling... and everybody not currently at a college programme in the USA because they’re all kinda busy right now... shout out to Yanni Wetzell at San Diego State who is having a brilliant season for a team ranked top five in the country. It goes without saying that Steven Adams wasn’t there either, NBA season ongoing and all... though if anyone can convince him to lace ‘em up for the Tall Blacks then it’s Pero Cameron.

An ideal starting five surely includes both Webster Bros and Isaac Fotu and quite possibly Abercrombie as well (not to mention the mythical possibility of Steven Adams if it should come to pass) so we’re really not talking about the A Team here. However that offered up an opportunity for some of the guys who needed it to step up and show what they’re capable of again. Chief among them was Reuben Te Rangi.

The 2018-19 Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player was relegated to a bit part player for the Brisbane Bullets this past season, playing less than nine minutes per game. The 30 minutes he played against Aussie are more than he played in any NBL game this season and he packed plenty into those minutes as well, scoring 21 points on 14 shots (4/7 from deep) with 6 rebounds and 5 assists. He was superb and Shea Ili (with an identical 21pts/6reb/5ast albeit with a couple extra shots and a bunch more free throws) wasn’t far behind either while Jordan Ngatai and Rob Loe each scored 19 points themselves.

Te Rangi scored 10 of his points in the second quarter as the Tall Blacks edged into a lead that they’d maintain for the entire second half – with, as you’d expect, quality defence playing a very large part in that. It wasn’t a particularly intimidating Boomers squad (with five debutants taking the court) but the likes of Nathan Sobey, Cam Gliddon, Jason Cadee, and Todd Blanchfield are all top notch NBL dudes and this result still came as a pleasant surprise. Gliddon and Sobey were the survivors of the 2019 World Cup squad. Australia weren’t helped by Sobey going 1/10 from deep while their 13/26 mark from free throws was a bit of a gift too. Ultimately it sorta came down to that old cliche... the Tall Blacks wanted it more. Hate to use such an overused phrase but Pero Cameron didn’t get a good old fashioned drenching from the lads afterwards because he was a little sweaty. That’s that Tall Blacks mentality coming through, mate.

Side note on that one... there’s nothing quite so wholesome as Tall Blacks basketball, aye? Regardless of who plays, the passion is always so strong. It’s Aotearoa Hard no matter the circumstances and that’s why they’re always in with a chance of punching above their weight at those major competitions. Think of the top scorers at the World Cup for this team... Corey Webster (22.8ppg), Isaac Fotu (18.4ppg) & Tai Webster (13.4ppg). None of them available... yet they still had six scorers in double figures against Oz.

Against Guam it was a whole lot more routine, though they started a bit sloppy and even trailed after the first quarter... before dropping 34 on them in the second. Another big second quarter. They were +10 vs Aussie and +15 vs Guam in the 2Qtrs. Probably let Guam hang around more than they should have as those fellas launched up shot after shot but they never felt like they were in any real danger.

Shea Ili continued a strong weekend with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists & 4 steals. Te Rangi hit another five triples on his way to 17 points. Mika Vukona had a throwback special too as he scored 10 points in 24 minutes and was a +21 on the court – bringing that defensive hammer down as he seeks to hang around long enough to get this team to the Olympics and one more major tournament before he retires. And then on the other end of the experience scale, PC even managed to sneak some decent minutes in for Taylor Britt, Tyrell Harrison, and Taine Murray too which is awesome. Also, yeah, if you’re wondering Tai Wesley did play for Guam but he only got 11 minutes as he limped off in the second quarter. Guts.

It was only a small taster of what’s to come from the Tall Blacks with their schedule this year but job done all the same. Tipping off that Pero Cameron Era in the right way, anytime we beat Australia at basketball it’s a good win and they got the dub they needed against Guam with minimal fuss as well. Not much to learn from these games under the circumstances yet it’s always a delight to see the Tall Blacks in action. Rightio. Sweet as.

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