Tall Blacks chances? Can they win Gold?

[Twizzle]

I thought the Tall Blacks played very well and deserved a bit of praise for thier effort.

I agree Australia were a bit lucky, but I think it was just thier experience that showed out in the end.

I think if Bogut were playing, it could have been a 40 point difference.

Well done Kiwis

 

[Iafeta]

Good effort by the Tall Blacks.

 

[Citizen.Eras3d]

The Tall Blacks aren't as bad as people make out. They did a great job in the World Championships a few years back, beating Serbia & Montenegro (a basketballing powerhouse, really) and actually qualified for that tournament by beating Australia.

Their gameplan was far superior to the Aussies. There was structure, they knew what they were doing offensively and they used their size to get some easy baskets inside. Australia just seemed to dribble for a bit, pass it around, if you're vaguely open then lob a shot. It was ugly as all hell. That being said, apart from Bogut there's also guys like Daniel Kickert and Aaron Bruce playing in the NCAA who could make an impact for the Aussies in future.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

NZ were missing Sean Marks (retired, to be fair, but arguably our best active player) and Kirk Penney who are our 2 best players and have both played in the NBA.

We competed well in the last Olympics and incredibly well in the last World Champs so it would've been moronic to write us off. I feel that we're on the way down though, after an excellent era.

 

[edabomb]

No way Bogut is a +40 point player. You could argue +20-25, but not 40. We need Marks back pretty badly, he actually has around the same stats as Bogut on a p/48 basis. Just he never gets too much playing time ont he deep Spurs roster.

 

[douglasallen91]

oh Kurt

get a room you two.

 

[douglasallen91]

NZ were missing Sean Marks (retired, to be fair, but arguably our best active player) and Kirk Penney who are our 2 best players and have both played in the NBA.

We competed well in the last Olympics and incredibly well in the last World Champs so it would've been moronic to write us off. I feel that we're on the way down though, after an excellent era.

and our starting pg in mark dickel.

time to get back to world champs form and try and go 1 better and get to the final