Indeed, the Tall Blacks went at 30% from the floor by comparison, unable to capitalize on reducing their turnovers (11) and winning the boards (36-33) against their much bigger opposition. It was a combination of rushing their offence at times and simply not making buckets that cost the team, with the second quarter in particular the costly one as China turned a one-point deficit into a 17-point lead by the main break.
Henare was realistic in his assessment of his team however, suggesting that they might have plateaued after a great first two weeks together.
"We have had a really good rate of improvement through our first week in camp and our first tournament. This one has been a bit more of a reality check, with that continued pressure that teams face day in day out that these teams are used to. Possibly we are starting to hit a point where the effort these guys have been putting in for two and a half three weeks is catching up on them."
Best for the Tall Blacks were guards Derone Raukawa and Shea Ili, both ending with 15 points on a combined 11 of 21 shots made, with Raukawa particularly impressive in draining 3 of 5 long range attempts as he continues to be a scoring spark from the bench for the team.
The boards were shared amongst the bigs, with Finn Delany (8) and James Hunter (6) dominant, while ball security was much improved with just the 11 turnovers, a low number on the tour so far.
As has been the case throughout the camp and tour, the focus is very much on the Asia Cup, starting with a game against Kazakhstan in just a few days, with the team now starting to taper in preparation for that vital first pool game.
"We have one game left (Angola tomorrow night) but our focus has to shift to August 8th and Kazakhstan. We will play the game and recover the best we can of course, but in five days time we play in what is for most of these guys, their first real FIBA international match."
Tall Blacks 62
Raukawa 15; Ili 15; Delany 8 points, 8 rebounds; Hunter 8 points, 6 rebounds
China Red 89
Meng duo 26; Zhai Rui 20 Abdulasham 10
There is no online link to stats, the box score has been posted on @TallBlacks twitter
- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Basketball New Zealand