MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy’s View from Downunder) - New Zealand basketball fans could only be excited last international season, watching the Webster brothers strut their stuff at the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

With their best basketball ahead of them, Corey and Tai will be cornerstones of the Tall Blacks program for years to come, but it may surprise many to know when they first shared the court.

"The first time we played together was with the (New Zealand) Breakers," Corey recalled.

In 2012-13, with Tai as a development player before he headed to the University of Nebraska, this dynamic pair finally got to play together and years of supporting each other.

"That was a good feeling, I was wishing he could stay around and we do more of that," Corey said.

Twice they enjoyed this experience in the NBL, but the next time they stood alongside each other on the hardwood in a meaningful game? Opening day of Spain 2014.

"That was a real proud moment for me and my family," Corey emphasised. 

"My mum and a couple of my aunties and uncles were over in Spain watching the tournament, they were all really proud.

"It was just awesome representing my county with my brother in a tournament like that."

It was particularly special for Corey, the older sibling at 26, who after blistering in his first practice game for the national team in 2008, had seen his international career thrown way off track by a pair of drug-related incidents.

Webster was even on the brink of losing his NBL contract with the Breakers, but has worked his tail off to once again be one of the most exciting young players in Oceania basketball, as shown by another match-winning offensive effort against Townsville on Friday.

Stepping on court against Turkey on Day 1 in Bilbao was huge payback for those toils.

"It was a little bit surreal at the time. Obviously I was just full of excitement, thinking I'm finally here. I was just happy that I got the opportunity to play," he said.

"I was ready, I felt like my game was ready, apart from the ankle injury I had which slowed me down a bit. I did what I had to do, got a cortisone in my ankle so I could play.

"I think the hype of the whole tournament and the whole scene, you build up enough adrenaline to get through that."

The Kiwis did everything but beat the Turks, only two unfortunate incidents - a technical foul on coach Nenad Vucinic after a dubious offensive foul on Corey, and an unsportsmanlike foul on Tai - tipped the balance in the Europeans' favour.

The two Websters did their country proud though, Corey with 22 points, 19-year-old Tai with seven points and five boards.

Yet while that was their official debut as a brotherly tandem for their country, they'd been unwittingly preparing for that moment for an eternity.

"That was as soon as Tai was old enough to run around and bounce a basketball," Corey laughed.

"I don't know how old he was but I had him out playing in the driveway."

Corey realised pretty soon his little bro had some special talent.

"When he got a bit older I started to give him some tips, but when we were younger I was just trying to beat him and not give him a chance," he laughed.

Strangely enough though, it wasn’t until many years later the Websters started hatching their plan for world basketball domination in the black and white.

"It would have been the first year he made it, which was when I had to sit out that tour," Corey said of Tai's scintillating debut at the 2012 FIBA OlympicQualifying Tournament. 

"After that we knew there would come a time really soon that we’d be playing together. We never really talked about it but we both knew."

Spain 2014 was like a dream, sadly one that ended too soon with their heartbreaking loss to Lithuania in the Round of 16.

"After was just disappointed but happy at the same time that we did our country proud," Corey said. 

"I just didn't want it to be over. I was just sitting there in the locker room thinking if it was just a little bit different for a minute or so we could have been going through to the next round."

C-Web stroked a magical 26 points that night, destroying the Green Machine in the second half with one of the great displays of individual shot-making in memory.

"That was awesome, I was just riding on a high, my shots were going down, I was demanding the ball down the stretch," he said. 

"You don't really think about it at the time, but playing in front of such a big crowd on the world stage was awesome."

And, where once the Webster dared not talk about playing for New Zealand together for fear they might jinx team selection, now it's all they talk about.

"We reminisce on how great the tournament was, how much we miss it and how we just want to keep going back and playing in tournaments like that," Corey said.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

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