Basketball: Tall order to scale the 'Great Wall'

By PETER JESSUP

Size remains the biggest hurdle confronting the Tall Blacks as they prepare for their three-test tour of China.

Centre Ed Book will travel with a calf injury and captain Pero Cameron has a back strain. Take those two out and the New Zealand side would look seriously small against a Chinese "Wall" that may include three players at 2.3m.

Book said he had been playing with the problem for a while and knew how to handle it - yesterday the centre's lower left leg was strapped in a wetsuit compress with ice water pumped inside it. The effect of flying tomorrow is the question.

Cameron was just tired and knocked around after three years of professional play without a break, said coach Tab Baldwin. Both needed time to repair, "but that's not going to happen any time soon and I can't be without those big guys".

Those already ruled out are Sean Marks, after wrist surgery, and Tony Rampton, after foot surgery.

The China tour, three tests in three cities in six days, is the first step on the road to the world championships in Indianapolis in August.

Baldwin said the approach to having to play the day after flying, the cramped itinerary, the culture shock and a change of food had to be "so what", with no excuses for bad performance.

On return, there would be a second camp with perhaps 15 players to take into a five-game home series against Hungary.

The travelling 12 plus Marks, Rampton and Kirk Penney, who is in the US, are favourites but Baldwin said they could play their way out and others could force their way in from the local league before the squad is culled to 12 for the overseas assignments that follow.

Basketball New Zealand has picked up extra sponsorship from Burger King which allowed it to announce yesterday that the team would go to Canada for two tests before moving on to Indianapolis.

That comes after the Super Cup tournament in Germany where they will play the host country, Yugoslavia and Lithuania. And now there is talk of playing Brazil and France pre-world championships, too.

It's the ideal build-up, just a shame about the injuries.

Guard Mark Dickel's involvement has as usual sparked the squad members to press each other and the urgency from the Victoria Titans and Wellington Saints player is greatly appreciated by Baldwin.

Called "Sparky" because of his electric play, Dickel's speed around the court is one of Baldwin's options for beating the "Great Walking Wall" of Yao Ming, Mengke Bateer and Wang Zhi Zhi.

This tour marks an odd reversal in game plans: The Chinese used to rely on speed and long-range shooting to beat size, a player once ran through the legs of an opponent at the Olympics; now New Zealand must use speed and outside shooting to beat Chinese size.

In training yesterday it was all about cleaning up the rebounds, staying mobile to keep attacking options open, putting pressure on opponents.

"We're going to make them contend with us," said Baldwin.

Cameron, Rob Hickey, Phill Jones and Dickel toured China in 1998 for three weeks and know what to expect, with referees under pressure from vocal home crowds and all 50/50 calls going to the opposition.

Most of the group has been around through junior grades. "We all get on well, there's no one that doesn't like anyone else and that's unusual," said Dickel, 25.

The last time the teams met, in the Sydney Olympics, the Tall Blacks led early but eventually lost 75-60, with the "Wall" bagging 29 points.