The Tall Blacks quest for FIBA Asia Cup Gold has fallen just short after a 84 – 98 defeat at the hands of China in their Asia Cup semi-final.
Taylor Britt’s recovery from an apparent lower leg injury caused him no issue, scoring tge Tall Blacks first two buckets of the game in typical Britt-fashion, a pull up jumper and a runner down the lane.
Mojave King knocked down the Tall Blacks first triple, that was quickly answered by Rui Zhao. He then hit his second triple the next position, before that was in turn answered by Tohi Smith-Milner. Both teams going blow-for-blow in the opening minutes of the quarter.
The veteran forward’s efforts on the defensive end his most impressive work, getting his hands into passing lanes and affecting multiple Chinese turnovers.
The quarter would go into a bit of a scoring lull for a couple of minutes as both teams picked up their defensive intensity. Jack Andrew’s converted and-one breaking the deadlock to put the Tall Blacks up 4.
The Chinese would score thirteen straight to take control of the final few minutes of the quarter, Tall Blacks down nine at the quarter break.
Carlin Davison got the second quarter underway for the Tall Blacks with a corner triple, the Kiwi’s fighting hard on the offensive boards in the opening stages of the quarter.
The Chinese sharpshooters continued their assault from long range, Wang Junjie scoring seven straight to keep the Tall Blacks at arm’s length.
They’d continue to get difficult shots to fall, including a bank shot three as they’d move the lead into double-digits for the first time in the game.
A 7-0 run, capped off by Jordan Ngatai’s transition bucket would bring the Tall Blacks within touching distance with a little under two minutes left in the half.
Flynn Cameron got to the bucket yet again before flipping in a tough, heavily contested two, bringing the Tall Blacks to within a possession of taking the lead, as the game went to the half-time break with China up 42-40. Cameron leading the way for the Tall Blacks with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in the first half.
Ben Gold was inserted into the starting line up for the second half, and immediately got to the bucket to tie the game ten seconds in.
Mo King hit his second triple of the night to edge the Tall Blacks in front by one. Taylor Britt’s quick four points also helping the cause, the point guard now up to 16 points on the night.
Zhao’s continued shot making ability still causing problems for the Tall Blacks, moving to 13 points on the night with his third triple of the afternoon.
The game would tighten immensely, the Tall Blacks pulling in leads before China would routinely hit big shots to yet again, continue to keep the Tall Blacks away.
Unwilling to relent, the New Zealander’s continued to fight back and stay in it – Mojave King’s triple, followed by a Smith-Milner putback on the buzzer was enough to send proceedings into the fourth with the deficit at just two points.
Tohi Smith-Milner and Britt would combine for the Tall Blacks first five of the fourth, and the Tall Blacks pulled within one.
As routine, China would once again pull away and extend the lead back out to five.
King would get the Tall Black resurgence started once more, with an and-one throwdown. Davison followed not long after with a dunk of his own, before momentum yet again swung the way of the Chinese.
A pair of free throws and back-to-back triples gave the Chinese a 13 point lead with a hair under three minutes left in the game.
Mojave King scored five straight for the Tall Blacks, and looked to continue their push towards the lead.
Like clockwork the Chinese would once again pull away in the late stages of the game, and eventually win 98-84, the final score probably not entirely indicative of the immense fight shown by the Tall Blacks in this one.
Despite some great open looks throughout the course of the game, the Tall Blacks will be left to rue a tough shooting night. Coach Flavell knew it was just one of those nights where the ball wasn’t falling.
“We had some great looks that we would continue to shoot again. China, I thought all night they were pretty relentless on the glass, and they shot the ball well. At the end of the day, they made the big shots they needed to.”
Not all is lost for the Tall Blacks, whose hopes of winning FIBA Asia Cup gold will have to wait a little longer. They’ll take on the loser of the second semi-final between Australia and Iran in the Bronze Medal match Monday morning at 4am (NZT).
Captain Jordan Ngatai says the team’s focus will now switch to tomorrow’s third place game.
“Congrats to China on the win. They were a good team, we knew coming into the game it wasn’t going to be light. But for now, our focus switches to tomorrow. We can’t dwell on the past in a sense, we’ve got to get ready for tomorrow’s game.”
Tall Blacks 84 (Britt 21p,6a, King 19p, 3s, Smith-Milner & Cameron 11p) defeated by China 98 (Zhao 21p, Wang 14p, Hu 13p)
Q1: 19-28
HT: 40-42
Q3: 66-68
FT: 84-98
