The Tall Blacks may just secure a spot at the Olympics after all.
They're playing at a Last Chance tournament in Greece and have managed to start things off with a win over Croatia.
Basketball NZ chief executive Dillon Boucher is with the team, he spoke to D'Arcy Waldegrave on Sportstalk.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk Z'B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Let's get on to our mate, my friend, mister Dylan Boucher,
form aware of the Alice Bandy, former breaker, a former
Tall Black, and he now as the CEO of Basketball
New Zealand. He joins us now from Greece, where this
fever last second qualifying tournament is going on. Basketballing at
the Olympics. Is that going to be the case? Dylan,
(00:34):
Welcome to the show. Look, it must be fantastic, must
be great to be watching this court side.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, awesome, bask good to check mate. It's really hot
over here, but probably not as hot as the boys
were last night.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It was extraordinary. Now I didn't see it. You were courtside,
so plainly you did up against Croatia trying to qualify.
What's a six team camp, three teams for one semi,
three teams qualifying the other. Beyond the semi the final,
only one team out of six qualify. So when it
comes to the opposition, you had to get a scalp
somewhere and you started off with awaysha, where did that
(01:07):
come from? Because I believe the game was like what
was it twelve and three shut out to you guys
went on a run.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yeah. We obviously coming into this, this Olympic qualifying to
one thement, we knew it was going to be tough.
We knew the teams were facing. They're all quality teams,
and I was at a Fever meeting yesterday and they
caught it a mini World Cup for many World Cups
around around getting ready to qualify for the Olympics. So
we knew coming up it was going to be tough,
and we knew the first game was going to be
(01:33):
really important to put ourselves in the driver's seat. And
the boys didn't disappoint. They just played their hearts out.
They played with physicality, they played with poise, they made
shots when they needed to make them, they executed well.
I mean, it wasn't the perfect game, but certainly we
felt like we wore Croatia down. They'd played the night
before against Slavena in B Slovenia, so we knew that
(01:55):
they were a very very strong team. And you know,
they've got NBA players on their roster and top of
ear Earleague players on their rosters, and it was always
going to be a tough ask. But the boys rose
to the occasion and really put it everything out there,
and you know, ended up, like you say, stifling them
at the end of the game with our defense and
execution down a stretch and came away with the four
(02:15):
point one.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Got fever are cruel. I'm sorry if it's that hot
over there. Croatia got that with Slovenia and then twenty
four hours later play us and now we roll Croatia
and we've got Slovenia coming up shortly.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
This is just meme, mate, Yeah, absolutely, I mean, it's
I mean, this is these guys, especially the NBA guys
I used to it. They play night and night out
and for our you know, you ask any player, they
just want to play. So these guys are fatigue won't
be effect today. They'll they'll be throwing it all out
there because you know, for us, we want to make
sure we go through to the next round, and we
need to be sure we either win this game or
(02:50):
we can't lose by more than nine we would still
get us through. So it's really important to come out
of the blocks well. And obviously Luka Doncic, we'll be
leading Slovenia and we'll be wanting to make up for
the loss they had the other night against Croatia. They're
well rested with a day off, so they'll come in
fired up and ready to go.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
You talk of European sides and the way, and we're
obviously not playing NBA basketball. This is world basketball rules.
Will this help out the tall blacks up against a
guy like Dontic.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I don't know. I mean Lucas come from Europe where
he playing forever rules all the way through, so this
is in his veins. He won't skip a beat from
the NBA. I mean, he had a triple double in
the game and the loss, so he'll be again. I
was speaking to the Slovenian federation and they said he's
really angry with how he played and the loss, and
(03:41):
I said, oh, there's not many guys that get a
triple double and angry with the way they played. So
that shows the levels of the guy. He didn't shoot
the ball, well, he'll be looking to come out and
replify that, but all we'll be going through his hands.
So it's going to be a huge challenge for the
team tonight.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
And have you been involved? Have you been in the
sheds as Pero Cameron let you have a talk to
the boys, and they're say, no, you're the boss man.
You stay well over there. I've got this boss.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
No.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I just the only thing I do is I go
in and celebrate afterwards. I leave it to the professionals.
And you know, Perrau and the coaching staff do a
great job preparing the boys. I try not to be
disruptive at all, so I just sit sideline and watch
and then get to get to join in the celebration
when when the team wins.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So you've got Criatia and Slovenia in your group, gotta
qualify in the top two. Should do that. If you
finished within, if you even if you lose within what
as you say, nineteen points, that is great. Other side
of the coin, what Greece and it's being held in Greece,
Egypt and the Dominican Republic. These are tough basketball sides.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Dylan, Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you if you had
the pleasure of being over here and walking around the hotel,
you realize, you know, the Tourbles just they do so
well on the international stage. When you know you look
at the size difference, the huge guys walking around, you know,
and the players loungers and things like that. They're just
they're just huge basketball you know, huge sized basketball players.
(05:06):
But they're all talented. You know, these teams that were
will potentially cross over with Dominican Republic, Greece in Egypt,
they're all talented. The Egyptians are huge men, and so
it's going to take everything to be able to if
we're successful, getting through to go through this next side
of the Poland obviously, you know, playing Giannis in Greece
(05:27):
in front of sold out fans is going to be
no easy feat. So yeah, someone's going to have to
go through Greece to get to get to the Olympics.
So it's a big ask.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
For more from sports Talk, Listen live to news Talks
they'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk Z'B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Let's get on to our mate, my friend, mister Dylan Boucher,
form aware of the Alice Bandy, former breaker, a former
Tall Black, and he now as the CEO of Basketball
New Zealand. He joins us now from Greece, where this
fever last second qualifying tournament is going on. Basketballing at
the Olympics. Is that going to be the case? Dylan,
(00:34):
Welcome to the show. Look, it must be fantastic, must
be great to be watching this court side.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, awesome, bask good to check mate. It's really hot
over here, but probably not as hot as the boys
were last night.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It was extraordinary. Now I didn't see it. You were courtside,
so plainly you did up against Croatia trying to qualify.
What's a six team camp, three teams for one semi,
three teams qualifying the other. Beyond the semi the final,
only one team out of six qualify. So when it
comes to the opposition, you had to get a scalp
somewhere and you started off with awaysha, where did that
(01:07):
come from? Because I believe the game was like what
was it twelve and three shut out to you guys
went on a run.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yeah. We obviously coming into this, this Olympic qualifying to
one thement, we knew it was going to be tough.
We knew the teams were facing. They're all quality teams,
and I was at a Fever meeting yesterday and they
caught it a mini World Cup for many World Cups
around around getting ready to qualify for the Olympics. So
we knew coming up it was going to be tough,
and we knew the first game was going to be
(01:33):
really important to put ourselves in the driver's seat. And
the boys didn't disappoint. They just played their hearts out.
They played with physicality, they played with poise, they made
shots when they needed to make them, they executed well.
I mean, it wasn't the perfect game, but certainly we
felt like we wore Croatia down. They'd played the night
before against Slavena in B Slovenia, so we knew that
(01:55):
they were a very very strong team. And you know,
they've got NBA players on their roster and top of
ear Earleague players on their rosters, and it was always
going to be a tough ask. But the boys rose
to the occasion and really put it everything out there,
and you know, ended up, like you say, stifling them
at the end of the game with our defense and
execution down a stretch and came away with the four
(02:15):
point one.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Got fever are cruel. I'm sorry if it's that hot
over there. Croatia got that with Slovenia and then twenty
four hours later play us and now we roll Croatia
and we've got Slovenia coming up shortly.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
This is just meme, mate, Yeah, absolutely, I mean, it's
I mean, this is these guys, especially the NBA guys
I used to it. They play night and night out
and for our you know, you ask any player, they
just want to play. So these guys are fatigue won't
be effect today. They'll they'll be throwing it all out
there because you know, for us, we want to make
sure we go through to the next round, and we
need to be sure we either win this game or
(02:50):
we can't lose by more than nine we would still
get us through. So it's really important to come out
of the blocks well. And obviously Luka Doncic, we'll be
leading Slovenia and we'll be wanting to make up for
the loss they had the other night against Croatia. They're
well rested with a day off, so they'll come in
fired up and ready to go.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
You talk of European sides and the way, and we're
obviously not playing NBA basketball. This is world basketball rules.
Will this help out the tall blacks up against a
guy like Dontic.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I don't know. I mean Lucas come from Europe where
he playing forever rules all the way through, so this
is in his veins. He won't skip a beat from
the NBA. I mean, he had a triple double in
the game and the loss, so he'll be again. I
was speaking to the Slovenian federation and they said he's
really angry with how he played and the loss, and
(03:41):
I said, oh, there's not many guys that get a
triple double and angry with the way they played. So
that shows the levels of the guy. He didn't shoot
the ball, well, he'll be looking to come out and
replify that, but all we'll be going through his hands.
So it's going to be a huge challenge for the
team tonight.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
And have you been involved? Have you been in the
sheds as Pero Cameron let you have a talk to
the boys, and they're say, no, you're the boss man.
You stay well over there. I've got this boss.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
No.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I just the only thing I do is I go
in and celebrate afterwards. I leave it to the professionals.
And you know, Perrau and the coaching staff do a
great job preparing the boys. I try not to be
disruptive at all, so I just sit sideline and watch
and then get to get to join in the celebration
when when the team wins.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So you've got Criatia and Slovenia in your group, gotta
qualify in the top two. Should do that. If you
finished within, if you even if you lose within what
as you say, nineteen points, that is great. Other side
of the coin, what Greece and it's being held in Greece,
Egypt and the Dominican Republic. These are tough basketball sides.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Dylan, Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you if you had
the pleasure of being over here and walking around the hotel,
you realize, you know, the Tourbles just they do so
well on the international stage. When you know you look
at the size difference, the huge guys walking around, you know,
and the players loungers and things like that. They're just
they're just huge basketball you know, huge sized basketball players.
(05:06):
But they're all talented. You know, these teams that were
will potentially cross over with Dominican Republic, Greece in Egypt,
they're all talented. The Egyptians are huge men, and so
it's going to take everything to be able to if
we're successful, getting through to go through this next side
of the Poland obviously, you know, playing Giannis in Greece
(05:27):
in front of sold out fans is going to be
no easy feat. So yeah, someone's going to have to
go through Greece to get to get to the Olympics.
So it's a big ask.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
For more from sports Talk, Listen live to news Talks
they'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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