GUTSY TALL BLACKS FALTER LATE AGAINST BOOMERS
– MARC HINTON
The fight was brave while it lasted, but in the end there was just too much Patty Mills for the Tall Blacks to handle at the NSEC.
Andrej Lemanis’ Australian Boomers won a cracking opener to the Fiba Oceania series over New Zealand’s Tall Blacks 70-59, though they had to make some pretty serious second-half adjustments to find their groove.
The Tall Blacks led by seven (39-32) at halftime and were only two points in arrears at the start of the final quarter, but it was the Boomers who fired all the shots over the run home as the New Zealanders ran out of gas.
Nenad Vucinic’s hosts scored just 20 second-half points (compared to Australia’s 38) and were held to a miserable seven points in the final stanza as their offence stalled completely. They made just seven of their 27 field-goal attempts after the major break.
Mills was superb, and a constant menace for the Tall Blacks at both ends of the court. He may do his best work waving his towel on the bench for the San Antonio Spurs, but in the international game he’s a class act, as we saw when he led all scorers at the London Olympics.
Mills finished with a game-high 20 points (8/18 FG, 2/9 3PT), five rebounds and four steals to provide the polish for what was, in the end, a solid performance.
David Andersen added 12 points (5/8 FG) and seven boards for the winners, while the sharpshooting Matthew Dellavedova had 11 points (4/9 FG) in a poised showing.
Corey Webster paced the Tall Blacks with 14 points (6/16 FG, 2/5 3PT), but managed just four after halftime as the Boomers put the defensive squeeze on him.
Mika Vukona added 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists, but he too was quiet over the final two periods. Casey Frank (nine points, four rebounds) and Tom Abercrombie (eight points, four boards) were the other chief contributors for the home side.
“That was not the result we wanted,” said a disappointed Vucinic afterwards. “That last quarter we really dropped in our performance. We ran out of options offensively and we turned the ball over a bit too much in the second half under their pressure. In the end they deserved their win.”
Vucinic felt experienced performers Abercrombie and Alex Pledger (six points, four rebounds) had both been below their best because of a lack of recent games, but would not blame that for his side’s cool second half.
Conversely, Boomers coach Lemanis was rapt with the way his side came out in the second half after he gave them a fairly stern halftime rev-up.
“We were much better defensively in the second half, we were more into it and over the course of 40 minutes I thought our extended pressure was able to wear them down a bit.
“And in the second half we did a much better job on offence of getting the ball into our bigs and attacking the rim, and it gave us much better results.”
Lemanis also lauded Mills’ performance.
“The thing I really enjoyed about it was he was into the defence, and he understands that’s how we need to play to be good. This team believes in him, and he’ll get his shots, but he also needs to play his part in getting shots for others.”
Vucinic’s young Tall Blacks had played a crazy good first half to lead the Boomers by seven (39-32) at the major break, and leave Lemanis with plenty to discuss in the sheds.
Offensively, it’s hard to imagine how the New Zealanders could have played better, with skipper Vukona (nine points on four-of-five shooting) and the slick Webster (10 points, including two of three from beyond the arc) leading the charge. Frank’s two triples were also handy.
The Tall Blacks shot a deadly 52 per cent from the floor and a spectacular 56 per cent from distance as they kept their score ticking over. They also scrambled well on defence and rebounded like terriers, to shade that count 17-16.
By comparison, the Boomers went at just 31 per cent from the floor and made only three of their 13 triple attempts as they relied heavily on 11 first-half points from Mills to keep them in the contest.
The Australians had led 21-18 at the end of the first quarter but a 21-11 second stanza from the Tall Blacks put them in the driver’s seat at the main interval.
Of course, the Boomers were going to make a run. And it came quickly after the resumption as Mills knocked down seven third-quarter points to kick-start a 22-13 period for the visitors, and a two-point lead (54-52) at the final break.
From there it was all the Boomers as they cruised to a victory that was a lot more comfortable than they could ever have imagined at halftime.
Game two is in Canberra on Sunday and it’s the New Zealanders with most of the adjustments to make.
Australia 70 (Patty Mills 20, David Andersen 12, Matthew Dellavedova 11) New Zealand 59 (Corey Webster 14, Mika Vukona 11, Casey Frank 9, Tom Abercrombie 8). 1Q: 21-18; HT: 32-39; 3Q: 54-52