MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - A lot of things were said about Basketball New Zealand's decision to send a development Tall Blacks team to the country's first FIBA Asia Cup in Lebanon, and now most of them need to be unsaid.

For those who missed it, on Day 3 of the tournament the young Tall Blacks recorded a remarkable 86-82 victory over the host nation in a packed and pulsating Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex in Beirut.

They resisted charge after charge from Fadi El Khatib and the Lebanese, holding on for a victory up there with some of New Zealand’s best, and there have been plenty of those over the years.

So any talk that sending this group of youngsters was somehow cheapening the black-and-white jersey or lessening the Tall Blacks brand needs to stop, because Paul Henare's group have only enhanced New Zealand's reputation with not just the result but the way they played.

This is a Lebanon team primed to win the title on their home turf, with seven players aged 27 or older and nine with previous experience of playing on Asia's biggest stage. This is a team built for today.

The Tall Blacks, on the other hand, have just one player aged 27 - Luke Aston, who isn't in the playing rotation - and a combined 80 minutes of experience at the now-defunct FIBA Oceania Championship.

In other words, this New Zealand squad is built for tomorrow. It's just that no one seems to have told them.

Both those things are very important.

Take Shea Ili as a great example. The 24-year-old is currently on track for the All-Star Five and his 22 points and 4 assists against Lebanon only tell a fraction of the story, with the rest made up of his composure, leadership, decision making and intensity at the defensive end.

But Shea made two very untimely plays in the final quarter that could have been costly. The first was a one-on-three pull-up jumper in transition in the final four minutes with his team up four, the second a wild pass in the open court with 83 seconds left after elevating without a plan about what happens next.

Both were moments which a genuine international point guard knows call for quality offensive execution, and moments that could easily cost the Tall Blacks a game in upcoming Qualifiers or indeed the World Cup itself.

That pull-up is an ok play earlier in the game, it's a shot he can certainly make, but in just his second year as a rotation player for the Tall Blacks, Shea doesn't fully understand the difference yet while in the heat of battle. You can be sure he’ll understand it better after Henare shows him those examples on film.

🇳🇿@shili___ drops 2️⃣2️⃣ PTS in win over #FIBAAsiaCup2017 hosts @FLBB_official💪👍 @tallblacks pic.twitter.com/kZKmtQAutR

— FIBA (@FIBA) August 10, 2017

Tradition continues
Finn Delany is another good example. Very impressive in his NBL rookie season, Thursday's game in a cutthroat environment showed the important of patience for an athletic player in international basketball.

The FIBA game isn't kind to young skywalkers who try to force the issue, there are usually older, smarter skywalkers already there waiting for them.

Where athletes can have a real impact in the intensity of international play is through patience - picking the moment the defense helps off, reading and feeding off teammates, anticipating a breakdown in the transition D, sneaking in for o-boards when the defence is in rotations.

Delany hasn't mastered that yet, he is right at the start of his journey, but the coaching staff can now show him a number of examples where a rush to attack and elevate has made him easy to read for the opposition defence. When he gets that right look out, because there are already exciting glimpses.

That's the tradition of Kiwi basketball, Tom Abercrombie and Alex Pledger starting at the 2009 Oceania Championship, Tai Webster likewise at the 2014 World Cup, Rob Loe and Isaac Fotu thrown into the serious FIBA paint battles while still teenagers and swingman Reuben Te Rangi playing point guard on a tour of Europe and China two years ago.

Te Rangi has had some testing personal and basketball times recently, but his form so far has been superb, playing like a learned veteran and making big plays.

His blow-by of El Khatib for a one-handed poster and then triple over Lebanon's leader moments later were crucial in Thursday's final quarter. He is applying the lessons he has been given earlier than most.

Mana oh mana
Moving away from the individuals, how about the mental toughness of the team? The opening minutes were a Lebanon block party, the Tall Blacks couldn't penetrate the wall, the crowd was going crazy, the score was 2-8 after almost three minutes and things could have easily run down the leg.

They didn't. Mana is a great Pacific Islander word, the best definition I've seen of it is "the power of the elemental forces of nature embodied in a person". I think of it like how the universe flows through people and the groups they are a part of, be that positive or otherwise.

It's an integrity that has held strong for the Tall Blacks over many years, it starts with the Haka, remains through good and bad moments in-game, and ends with dignified sportsmanship after each game, regardless of the result, and this young group is carrying the tradition proudly.

Here's a quick insight into the New Zealand @TallBlacks haka. Why we do it, what it means, and what we are saying to our opposition. pic.twitter.com/tSNf2HPdni

— Tall Blacks (@TallBlacks) August 11, 2017

As whistles mounted on Thursday night, the precocious Kiwis didn't get flustered. It's rare in international basketball for a player to be able to just put heat on the defenders and get trips to the free throw line, usually that sort of play goes unrewarded.

But such is the presence of El Khatib when playing in Lebanon that on this day, in front of that crowd, it got to the point where there really was no way for the Tall Blacks to defend him and he put on a real show for the home crows.

For such a young group, this is something that could easily ruin their day, be it getting distracted arguing with officials or just dropping away from the defensive plan. But there was none of that, Henare's men simply got on with the job no matter what came their way and there were plenty of momentum breakers of all kinds - not just involving the great Fadi - that simply resulted in a team huddle and a renewed focus. The mana of the group stayed strong.

In contrast, when a Tohi Smith-Milner flop was incorrectly assessed an offensive foul on El Khatib, the Lebanese legend lost his cool, picking up a technical that resulted in his benching with foul trouble late in the second term.

When El Khatib sat down with 2.38 left to play, Lebanon led by six. When he checked back in to start the third quarter they were down two, and that eight point swing proved pivotal in the end result.

It was indeed a great day for New Zealand basketball but it was only just one day, and Saturday against Korea is every bit as important.

A loss by more than five points and the Tall Blacks will finish third in the group, so there can be no hangover from Thursday night. If there is, the win over Lebanon will have been wasted, and that would be a very harsh lesson for these young Kiwis to learn.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

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