Tab still a Kiwi?
Tab still a Kiwi?
August 31, 2010
Tall Blacks logo
Tall Blacks logo
Scott Preston, Stuff
The down-on-one-knee, fist-resting-on-chin, intense stare down-court is the same as it always has been. The only difference for Tab Baldwin is the colour of his team-issue polo.
Instead of wearing the black and white of New Zealand, he is now wearing the red and white of Asian wildcards Lebanon.
And tomorrow morning (NZ time), Baldwin will be on the opposing bench, trying to guide Lebanon to a win over the Tall Blacks, the team he coached from 2001-06 and took to a fourth place finish at the 2002 World Championship, still New Zealand’s watershed basketball moment.
“I’m going to try not to feel anything,” Baldwin said about facing the Tall Blacks, after Lebanon’s 86-59 loss to France on day two.
“I’m going to try to be professional and put the feelings aside because those feelings probably won’t help me at all.
“I have thought a lot about this game. I have mixed feelings about it, how much I want to win, how much it means to both teams. It’s going to be a critical game for our pool.”
“Absolutely I want to win desperately. But the fact that it’s New Zealand is not related to how much I want to be part of this game and to win this game. Every game I’ve coached, whether it’s against friend or foe, I’ve wanted to win. I’ve wanted that for my team and the organisation I represent.”
“Whatever’s churning inside might be something different but I’ll keep that inside..”
It’s not like Baldwin and the Tall Blacks have been avoiding each other during their time in Izmir.
Following their opening day games, Baldwin and the Tall Blacks coaching team of Nenad Vucinic, Dillon Boucher and Chris Tupu were seated beside each other in the press tribune to watch France upset Spain. And after the Tall Blacks’ loss to Spain, Baldwin and Vucinic were in deep discussion in the hallway outside New Zealand’s locker room. Vucinic and Baldwin have even been sharing information on other teams in Group D.
“Basketball is basketball but life is much more important. Nenad Vucinic, Pero Cameron, Dillon Boucher, Phill Jones, these guys are life-long friends, so the fact that we were sitting together is the most normal thing you could see.
“And also Nenad and I, we decided we can help each other out a little at this tournament, as we always do, so no-one should be surprised by that.”
With New Zealand’s coaches and players so familiar with the offensive and defensive systems Baldwin likes to run, and Baldwin knowing the strengths and weaknesses of most of the Tall Blacks roster, the game could come down to whose inside information is better.
“I think Nenad knows my stuff better than I know his,” said Baldwin, who has coached clubs in Greece, Romania and Turkey in the last three seasons. “But it’s not how much I know or he knows, it’s how much the players know. We’ll scout them and we’ll be prepared.
“It’s probably a slightly bigger advantage that Nenad knows the coach and his system, but it’s about how much the coach can relate to his team about what’s going on. I believe I’m a pretty good coach and I know Nenad is a heck of a coach. It remains to be seen how much impact the coaches will have on the game. The players have to do the job.”
Lebanon and New Zealand last met in a three-team tournament in Canada in 2008, the Tall Blacks winning 84-71, with Craig Bradshaw top-scoring with 18 points. However, it was long before Baldwin took over the head coaching job for the 24th-ranked nation that finished fourth at the 2009 Asia Championship.
Baldwin - who has a strained relationship with some sections of New Zealand basketball through his ownership of the Auckland Stars franchise in the National Basketball League, who were suspended from the league in 2010 - said he would watch the haka and also ask his team to face and respect the pre-game challenge.
“I’ll have my hand on my heart when God Defend New Zealand is played and I won’t forget that I’m a Kiwi but on that day I’m the coach of the Lebanon Cedars and that’s the most important thing.”
GO TALLBLACKS!!!! HOPEFULLY NO UPSET THIS TIME!!!!!
.i think they can pull an upset here. .it will be a close game for sure. 
