Ili's heroics can’t save Tall Blacks

The New Zealand Tall Blacks will have to wait another four years to realise their Olympic dream, after falling in the group phase of the Qualifiers in Greece.

Pero Cameron’s team had an impressive win over Croatia in game one, but the Luka Doncic led Slovenian team proved too much in game two, winning by 26 points.

The Tall Blacks were up against it from the start, succumbing to a 27-9 quarter-time deficit, but fought back in the second quarter to trail by just seven at half-time.

Doncic and Josh Nebo took over in the second half though, with the Mavericks star finishing with 36 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, and Olimpia Milano man Nebo scoring eight last quarter points on his way to 20 and 12 rebounds overall.

Melbourne United’s Shea Ili was a star in the 104-78 defeat, with 28 points on 7-of-12 shooting, 10 rebounds and 4 assists.

Izayah Le’Afa hit 12 points, including some impressive outside shooting and Tyrell Harrison provided a spark off the bench, with 8 points and 7 boards.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Tall Blacks, with their Olympic dream officially over. 

“Obviously it’s not that result that we wanted … we just tried to pick up the pace on [Slovenia] and play our style of basketball, but it wasn’t enough to get the win,” Harrison said. 

“It’s definitely surreal, playing against players of that calibre, but it just fuels the passion of me trying to get to these big stages, and not only that – this team and this country as well, we’re going to use this as fuel for our next qualifiers and next tournaments.

“The experience has been unbelievable for me, it’s my first time in an environment like this, it’s something special and I’m not taking it for granted.”

Cameron echoed the thoughts of the Brisbane Bullets big. 

“Results matter, we’re all disappointed with the way the game has gone, I think we fought back the end of the second quarter and showed fight but we just couldn’t get stops in the third and fourth quarters. It’s tough to absorb and watch,” he added. 

“We had plans [for defending Luka] and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. He’s a great player and we respect him for that, but I think immediately we put ourselves in trouble with early fouls. And when you get to the bonus really early, it’s hard to play defence.

“I felt we pulled the game back towards the end of the second quarter, from there we tried a couple of things but they didn’t come off. But I felt our young guys like Tyrell – who hasn’t had many opportunities in this tour – he did a good job and my hat goes off to him.”