1/8: Argentina vs. New Zealand, 10:00

[stuart]

Fiba World Championships of Basketball:
Round of 16: August 26, 10:00 local time
Teams: Argentina (5-0) vs. New Zealand (2-3)

Argentina vs New Zealand by Fiba.com (link)
SAITAMA (FIBA World Championship) - Argentina will set out to prove that their 5-0 record in the group stages was just the start of better things to come from the Olympic champions as they go up against New Zealand in the first Eighth-Final of the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

However, Sergio Hernandez's men won't underestimate the Tall Blacks, who came back from the brink of elimination - after losing their first three group games - to qualify for the second round with consecutive wins over Japan and Panama to finish fourth in Group B.

"We played against New Zealand in a warm-up tournament in Argentina and they proved to be worthy opponents," said Walter Herrmann, who has provided a huge scoring boost for Argentina off the bench, finishing with team-highs of 25 and 23 points in the routs over Lebanon and Venezuela respectively.

"They are strong and work well in defense but we will try our best to and progress to the next round."

And Herrmann is only too aware that the prospect of a shock win is one New Zealand considers very seriously.

"Of course, they want to upset us and get a surprising victory while we hope to get deeper in the tournament. We simply have to remain focused throughout the game."

Argentina showed why they are one of the favourites to win the competition in their last game of the group stages - a 83-79 defeat of defending champions Serbia & Montenegro - when they weren't half as dominant as in their previous three wins.

"This was the first time that we trailed a team at the end of the third quarter and the players responded very well, playing with a lot of pride and not giving up on the game even though we had the group won already. This is a great experience for the knockout stages. We know we can come from behind to win even if we are struggling early on," he said.

Meanwhile New Zealand forward Pero Cameron insisted the Tall Blacks must improve in several areas in order to contend with Argentina.

"There's a lot that we need to do. We have to play the best basketball we can to win. We especially have to rebound the ball on the defensive end and we have to take our opportunities and use them well."

Head coach Tab Baldwin believes his men do have a chance to surprise the South American nation, especially if they can apply some pressure early on.

"We're going into the game with a puncher's chance. We have to avoid making mistakes and try to find ways to put Argentina under pressure," he said.

"We can't let them get out to a comfortable lead and relax. The higher seeds usually feel they have to play hard and the others have nothing to lose. The expectations are not sitting on our shoulders. For us, this is a new tournament. We have to give them the toughest game they've ever had. We're always most successful when we get it done with many hands."

Argentina have never lost in three matches against New Zealand, with their latest win over the Tall Blacks coming at the 2004 Olympic Games.

Game has already begun, Argentina up 37-29...

Stuart

[SHARP]

Argentina-New Zeland 79-62

[Marius123]

An easy win for Argentina, seems like they even didn't try too hard, sailing on a cruise control. They built up a double digit lead over 2 quarters, increased it to 17 points in the 3rd. New Zealand made one last effort with active full-court zone press and halfcourt zone in the 4th quarter, cutting it to 9 points on a Cameron three-pointer, but that was it. Manu responded with 6 straight points, and the run of the Tall Blacks petered out. Bad shooting touch through the game by New Zealand... Oberto - the man in the middle, had some moments in offence, like taking 2-3 offensive rebounds in a row... Scola - tragic game, almost nothing went right for the guy... Manu - grace and beauty, head and shoulders above all the rest on the pitch. He revved it up from time to time, but seemed like conserving his forces though.

Now, for the real tough matches of the day - Italy - Lithuania coming up.

[hagakure]

like Marius said, Argentina won easily, New Zealand didn't have much strength inside. Argentina was simply the better team.

[PHILIPeurobasket]

Manu Ginobili exploded for 28 points and Fabricio Oberto had 23 along with 10 rebounds as Argentina won 79-62 over New Zealand on the opening day of the eighth-finals at the FIBA World Championship.

Here you can find full stats from this game -> http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/06_...mNumber=&zone=



Argentina vs. New Zealand 79:62
Argentina: Scola 10, Ginobili 28, Sanchez 4, Oberto 23, Herrmann 2, Fernandez 0, Delfino 2, Prigioni 4, Gutierrez 0, Nocioni 2, Farabello, Wolkowisky 4
New Zealand: Dickel 15, Olson 0, Penney 11, Henare 5, Jones 9, Winitana 0, Boucher 0, Cameron 6, Vukona 0, Frank 5, Bradshaw 9, Rampton 2

[King Bowser Koopa]

like Marius said, Argentina won easily

Maybe I watched another game. In the last quarter, Tall Blacks defense made it tough. They slowly cut the deficit, with great effort to less than 10 points. Succesfully stopped Argentinians next attack, but the ball luckily ended in the hands of Ginobili, wide open from beyond the arc who hit the unique trey of the game for Argentina. That was the key for the game because the trend was heading to a thrilling last second ending.

[Gamingaccess]

Argentina did not play well but won without problems. Anyway if Argentina wants to reach the final again will have to improve. It´s impossible if you have 6% in 3 points range.

[Akyol]

guys,there is something like a fact: If Argentina struggles, they get at least 2/2 ft's by Ginobili in almost every play