All focus now on Korea for Young Tall Blacks

The Tall Blacks are back in game mode, gone are the memories of the win over Lebanon and all that occupies the minds of these young players and the coaching staff are the Koreans and how to combat a very different style opponent in their final pool match at the Asia Cup on Sunday morning, NZT.

Lebanon and the tournament however are still abuzz about the game of the tournament so far. The atmosphere, the closeness of the battle and the fight of the Tall Blacks to resist the wave of support for the home side and all that veteran star Khatib could throw at them had local media and basketball delegations still talking about it today.

The Tall Blacks got the chance to see a little of downtown Beirut on their recovery day and received a good reception from the locals, with plenty of photo requests and thumbs up, despite the disappointment in seeing their much-loved home side lose.

But as of the team meeting today, it was back to business with the Korean scout top of mind, and a desire to maintain the high standards set against Lebanon, with Head Coach Paul Henare saying Korea will be a very different challenge.

"Korea are a very different team and obviously the game itself will be a different feel to it, in some ways the danger is it might feel like a bit of a letdown after the hype of last night. Korea space the floor and are a team of shooters, from guards to bigs, they can hit their spots. But we have spoken about the need to be ready for everything the day and the game will throw at us."

Assistant Coach Pero Cameron echoed those thoughts, with instructions to his players to work harder than ever defensively.

"We have to shut down their shooters, we have spoken about that in our scout," said Cameron. "They play a very disciplined and fast style with outside shooting a big factor. They also have a presence inside with Oh, he is their main go to guy on offence inside so we have to shut him down. But they are all talented, play an up-tempo game and will be very structured, we will have to be at our best to match them."

Offensively New Zealand have to trust their systems and take their shots, something Cameron says the coaching staff have been emphasizing throughout the tour.

"Players are here for reasons, all we are asking of them is to be that player, to be the best they can be and improve throughout the tour. Our shooters have to shoot, if you miss the first two shots, you take the third. Our goal every possession is a great shot, take a good shot but aim for a great shot. That might mean taking responsibility, but sometimes that means recognizing the need for one more pass and saying to your team mate I back you to make this. From that you build confidence and we saw last night, this young team played without fear and took their chances."

The entire roster is fit and available for the game, with a win confirming a place in the quarter finals as pool winner. A loss sees the calculators come out with a likely three-way tie in the pool between the Tall Blacks, South Korea and Lebanon (Lebanon are heavily favoured to defeat Kazakhstan tomorrow). The second and third placed teams in the pool play sudden death quarter final qualifiers.

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Tall Blacks v South Korea

Sunday 13 August

3:30am tip off NZT

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Basketball New Zealand