The Tall Blacks are really good - someone should let Basketball NZ know
PLUS: The Week That Was and the Weekend That Will Be (and a Father's Day subscription special offer).
Took my daughter along to the match that ultimately sent the Tall Blacks to next year’s world championships that will be held in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
Basketball is in a really interesting and slightly strange space in New Zealand.
The Tall Blacks beat Jordan 100-72 in a well-rounded performance. It’s a really good Tall Blacks team, with a lot of exciting, unselfish young guys playing a good brand of ball under former legend Pero Cameron. Yet the North Shore Events Centre was less than a third full and that was with a good chunk of Jordanians at one end.
I was only there because a friend of mine is connected with the team and had a couple of spare tickets. Otherwise I would not have known it was on and although I’m far from a hoops addict, part of my job is to keep abreast of most top line sport. Even more worryingly for the sport, I texted a former NBL and national age-group coach during the match to get a bit of info on swingman Ben Gold, and he didn’t know it was on either!
It’s a little perplexing. Basketball is a participation monster at schools and there’s a renewed energy to the National Basketball League, so why are the Tall Blacks struggling to get traction, even when hosting games in the country’s basketball heartland on the North Shore?
I’ve heard three theories, and one half theory/ whinge:
Basketball fans skew younger and they’re only interested in NBA highlight reels, not full games;
Spark Sport has the FIBA rights, so not enough people see the games;
The mainstream media doesn’t give the Tall Blacks enough coverage;
Steven Adams won’t play.
There’s probably some truth in the first three points and they’re all loosely correlated in that BBNZ seems to be unable to effectively negotiate the modern media realities.
As for Adams? He’s clearly got his reasons and that’s something BBNZ will have to live with. In the meantime, it has to get much, much better at telling its own story.
This team deserves it.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
Yesterday was a great day and a sad day as we said goodbye to one of the doyens of sports journalism, David Leggat. This was an amazing touch from those at Eden Park.
Farewell champ, indeed.
High Performance Sport New Zealand yesterday announced a bunch of shiny new names for their board, with Don Tricker, Duane Kale, Noeline Taurua and Valerie Adams.
It’s a mildly interesting move, not least because it’s the opposite direction most high-profile sports are going with their boards as they look more towards independence and business acumen (though a narrative has emerged that the All Blacks’ woes are at least in part due to the New Zealand Rugby board and in particular their lack of high-performance nous).
Four-time Olympic medalist Adams has the highest profile and has been added as an athlete’s voice. It would be churlish to criticise the appointment before she’s had a chance to make a difference, but as a cautionary note, high-achieving athletes are often the worst athlete advocates.
“I’ve just come out of the system, so let me go back into the system,” she said.
I’d argue that her experience of the “system” would be vastly different to that of a Joseph Miller, for example, but kudos to her for wanting to make a difference.
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
Steve Braunias can put a sentence together. Whatever he turns his hand to you can ‘feel’ the writing. Although a football correspondent of some note (his longform piece on George Best for Metro way back remains a sportswriting classic), rarely does he turn his hand to the national sport. His is the only preview you need ($) ahead of the second test against the Pumas - just the latest in a line of tests that could be, maybe even should be, the end of something.
Losing comes to an end. “Even the losers,” Tom Petty sang, “get lucky sometimes.” The All Blacks play Argentina on Saturday night, Australia on September 15 and September 24. We have to come to terms with the possibility they might win one, two or even all three games. Normal service will be resumed. The All Blacks will once again be the All Blacks. We can all get back to sleep. Back to the ordinariness of success, to the banality of excellence, to the same old monochromatic New Zealand way of life – but right now we are experiencing a new and vivid New Zealand way of life, the national game held to ridicule and shame, the national psyche haunted, hurt, howling, held captive as a team of five million, losing.
All Blacks v Argentina, Hamilton, 7.05, Sky Sport 1 (followed by the Wallabies v South Africa)
Couldn’t get in front of the telly yesterday so delighted Serena Williams has provided me with at least one more chance to watch her transcendent talent.
Williams v Anna Tomljanovic, US Open 3rd round, New York, 11am tomorrow, Spark Sport
The AFL finals are a bunch of fun, as witnessed last night when the Brisbane Lions won a two-point thriller against Richmond, likely putting the nail in the coffin of the Tigers mini-dynasty that saw them win three flags in four years from 2017-20. The weekend serves up a beauty with two of the most decorated teams going head to head - the hoops of Geelong (nine titles) against the stripes of Collingwood (15).
Geelong v Collingwood, Melbourne, tomorrow 6.35pm, Sky Sport
This is a BWC and AWC Premier League season and I’m going to try to avoid getting invested in it Before World Cup. A Mersey Derby at a manageable hour, however, might force a rethink. People are usually amazed at just how close Everton and Liverpool are, but can you name a longstanding British football derby where the two grounds are even closer? Answers in the comments - or you can just wait until I tell you on Monday.
Everton v Liverpool, Goodison Park, tomorrow 11.30pm, Sky Sport EPL
I’ll probably torture myself and watch the final Warriors game of the season tomorrow against the wretched Titans at Mt Smart (5pm), but there’s a Sydney derby tonight that means more.
While we’re on league, Steve Kilgannon took a Nelson Asofa-Solomona elbow to the NRL in a column this week after it was announced there would be just nine games in Auckland next season despite noises that the Warriors would get payback for effectively playing in exile for three years. He claims the NRL has little idea just how brittle the game is in New Zealand these days.
It’s depressing, and also entirely unsurprising. As the old saying goes, rugby league never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. And rugby league will almost always take the short-term dopamine fix over any long-term thinking.
Roosters v Rabbitohs, Sydney, tonight 9.55pm, Sky Sport 4
The great Scotts, Dixon and McLaughlin, race for the IndyCar title on Monday morning in Portland. Dixon is in third, 14 points behind series leader Will Power with two races to go. McLaughlin is 50 points further back and will need a lot to go his way to have a chance of leaping up from his sixth position, but it’s pretty cool to have two Kiwis at the sharp end of the most interesting open-wheel series in motorsport.
GP of Portland, Portland, Monday 7am, Sky Sport 5
Notts County and Forest are just over the river Trent from each other.
Dundee?