New Zealand went down again in a four-nation men's basketball tournament in Latvia today, but coach Nenud Vucinic remained optimistic his team were on the right track for the Beijing Olympics qualifying series against Australia.
The Tall Blacks' 74-82 loss to Latvia was their third defeat in thetournament from as many games, but Vucinic expressed satisfaction with their progress in the leadup to the three-match series in Australia from August 20.
"I'm happy with the progress the team's making. These matches are tough and we knew all along these games were going to be hard and we wanted it that way."
After a similar tournament in China, the Tall Blacks arrived in Latvia and squeezed in three games in three days. They lost 74-77 to Belarus and 81-94 to Lithuania, with Vucinic still working on different combinations while trying to instill methods and style.
"We're starting to hit some form - we hit 35 per cent from outside, which is good and it means we're executing our game."
Vucinic said he was looking at 40 per cent success in that area over the next week.
Craig Bradshaw topscored with 16 and Kirk Penney and captain Pero Cameron scored 11 each.
The Tall Blacks, facing a few (National Basketball Association (NBA) players in the Latvia team, led 17-12 in the first quarter, trailed 40-41 (23-29) at halftime and outscored their opponents again in the third quarter (21-19).
However, Latvia took the game away with a series of three-pointers late in the game to win the last quarter 22-13 and game by eight points.
The team will travel to Croatia tomorrow and have their first meaningful break in three weeks for a couple of days before they train and play there.
Latvia 82 bt NZ 74 (Craig Bradshaw 16, Kirk Penney 11, Pero Cameron 11). First quarter 12-17, halftime 41-40 (29-23), third quarter 60-61 (21-19), fulltime 82-74 (22-13).
