It was a battle for first place in Group D, as two titans at the FIBA Asia Cup went toe-to-toe in the last game of the day. The Tall Blacks and Chinese Taipei, both unbeaten and looking to secure an automatic quarter-final berth with a win tonight at King Abdullah Sports City.
With plenty on the line, you could sense in the atmosphere that both teams were up for this one.
The game began at great pace, with both teams looking to make inroads early. Long-Mao Hu got the game underway with a triple for Taipei, before Mojave King knocked down a long two for the Kiwi’s first points of the night.
Max Darling’s re-insertion to the starting group fuelled his early energetic start, battling hard on the defence end of the floor by poking balls out from the Taipei guards, and hustling towards every loose ball he could.
His corner triple with a tick under three minutes into the first, giving the Tall Blacks their first lead of the game.
Adam Hsang Hinton had four early points for Chinese Taipei, as his mid-range jumper handed back the lead to Taipei.
Flynn Cameron brought lots of energy off the bench, and added four quick points as the see-saw first quarter continued.
Taipei opened up a small three-point lead, before Darling took flight to detonate on the rim for a thunderous one handed flush. Taylor Britt followed with an easy lay-in as the Tall Blacks once again regained the ascendancy.
Mohammad Gadiaga made a tough, heavily contested bucket – before Britt answered again with a drive to the cup that would send him to the line to converted two from the charity stripe.
In a chaotic first quarter that saw seven lead changes, it was the Tall Blacks who would head into the break with a miniscule one-point lead.
Britt continued his hot streak into the second, opening the quarter with a deuce. Ben Gold got on the scoreboard, before Carlin Davison flew through the air on another one of his emphatic putback dunks.
The frenetic pace of play continued as both sides kept trading blows. Mo King with a triple, answered in a matter of seconds by Hinton with his own three, now up to 10 points on the night.
Jack Andrew’s first touches of the game brought a nice dunk – courtesy of a sweet Mo King dime, followed up by a block in transition. Hustling to get an offensive rebound, the Tall Blacks quick thinking to keep the ball alive led to a Ben Gold mid-range jumper at the end of the shot clock.
Now on a roll, King’s two handed flush with just over four minutes to play would put the Tall Blacks up nine.
Britt’s tidy mid-range jumper made him the first Tall Black into double figured tonight, before he picked up his third foul, sending him to the bench a little earlier than expected.
Back-to-back triples from Smith-Milner and Cameron saw the New Zealanders open up the first double digit lead of the game, now up 15 points on a Chinese Taipei team now struggling with the defensive intensity of the Tall Blacks.
Smith-Milner hit his third triple of the half, as the Kiwi’s opened up a big lead heading into halftime.
King opened up the second half with a sweet mid-range pull up, and the Tall Blacks relentless hustle and heart on the defensive end continued to suffocate the Chinese Taipei offense.
Max Darling’s second triple of the night came from an assist from his Canterbury Rams teammate, Britt, and yet again was answered quickly by one of the Hinton twins for Taipei, this time Robert.
Hinton hit his second triple in a row – as he looked to re-ignite the Taipei offense.
But it wasn’t long until the slick Tall Black offense would find their feet again. Darling hitting an open Mojave King for the corner triple, before Flynn Cameron’s pull up from the mid-range put the Tall Blacks up 18.
King’s second triple in the space of a minute forced Taipei coach, Gianluca Tucci, into calling a timeout, his team now trailing by 21 halfway through the third.
Taine Murray got in on the action from the land of plenty, knocking down his first triple of the night and New Zealand’s tenth.
It wasn’t long after when Ben Gold hit the team’s eleventh triple – and a fast break opportunity saw Taine Murray’s pin-point alley oop dime to Mo King finished with authority as the Tall Blacks blew out the lead to 28 points.
The team continued to let it fly from deep, their great success from outside the arc allowing them a big 25-point buffer heading into the final ten minutes of action.
Mojave King became the first Kiwi over 20 points on the night, as he knocked down his fourth triple of the night in the first minute of the fourth.
Britt poured in four straight, before a Flynn Cameron and-one finish saw the Tall Blacks lead eclipse 30.
He scored another seven straight points, taking him to 23 points in the game. After a lay-in, his dunk with two minutes left in the game saw him hit the 27 point mark – the most points a New Zealander has ever hit in a FIBA Asia Cup game.
Dontae Russo-Nance’s triple at the end of the game ensured every single Tall Black got on the scoresheet, as the Kiwi’s ran away to a huge 118-78 win.
The 40-point win securing the Tall Blacks top spot in Group D and an automatic quarter-final berth. The team now enters a four-day break until their quarter final match-up, and will for sure be keeping a keen eye on the results of the next few days to see who they’ll match-up with.
New Zealand 118 (Cameron 28p, 9r, 8a, King 22p, 8r, 4a, Gold 14p, 8r, Britt 14p, 4a ) defeat Chinese Taipei 78 (R. Hinton 24p, A.Hinton 16p)
