Marc Howard, the NBL's Manager of Media, Communications & Internet, takes a closer look at some of the interesting things to come out of Game One of the Boomers-Tall Blacks series in his exclusive Game One Wrap for nbl.com.au.

Before the buzzer at the end of Game One of the 2007 FIBA Oceania Championship series had finished reverberating around the Fonebox arena, if you listened closely you could hear another sound too. It was the tom-tom-tom of the jungle drums beating, warning of the imminent demise of the Tall Blacks and their hopes of qualifying for Beijing 2008.

Certainly, the Tall Blacks were less than impressive in Game One as they went down to the Boomers 79-67 to fall behind 0-1 in the best-of-three series. But anyone who thinks that the series is over is being just a little premature, to say the least.

The Tall Blacks have their work cut out for them to get back into the series, of that there is no doubt, but the stats sheet has just as many worrying signs for the Boomers as it does for the Tall Blacks.

New Zealand, despite being the smaller team, actually managed to outrebound Australia 44-40. The Tall Blacks also outshot the Boomers from the field (52% to Australia’s lowly 38%) and got more points production from their bench (25 points to 17).

So why did the Boomers win, and win so comfortably in the end? The Tall Blacks effectively shot themselves in the foot, turning the ball over 18 times to Australia’s just seven. Those miscues, generated by some aggressive full court defence by the Boomers, were turned into 17 points at the offensive end, whilst the Tall Blacks managed to score just five points off Australian turnovers. The Tall Blacks also went a woeful 16-of-25 from the free-throw line. Combine that with the fact that the Boomers were scorching from the perimeter (they made 9-of-20 from beyond the arc) and you have what was an otherwise close game turned into a laugher for the Australians.

Perhaps the best exemplification of the Tall Blacks woes came just before the half, when with just less than a minute to go, Mark Dickel threw a pass directly into the hands of Sam Mackinnon. The Aussies duly converted on the fast break and then immediately stole the inbounds from Phill Jones to score four of the easiest points possible.

In fact, easy points allowed was something that plagued Nenad Vucinic’s team all night. The effortless way which the Australians managed to score layups through the New Zealand defence and that Boomers captain Sam Mackinnon was able to sneak in and grab offensive boards showed some serious deficiencies in the Tall Black defences.

However these are all areas of simple effort and concentration which the Tall Blacks can - and no doubt will - address in the lead up to Game Two in Sydney on Wednesday night. If they can do a better job of dealing with the Australian pressure defence, then they should go a long way towards squaring the ledger in the series.

There were another few points worthy of note from Monday night’s game:

- Anyone who still thinks Patrick Mills was included in the Boomers team as a novelty wasn’t watching the game. Mills actually replaced starting point guard Darnell Mee after only three minutes of play in the first quarter with Boomers struggling to get into their offence and trailing 5-6. His efforts on defence, where he got in people’s faces relentlessly and put his body on the line to take charges, were by themselves enough to excite the Fonebox crowd. The fact that he took no notice after his shot got blocked ferociously by Casey Frank and went on to score seven points in just 17 minutes shows this kid should have a long future in the Australian team. In fact, did it remind anyone else of the debut of one Mark Dickel for the Tall Blacks against Australia all those years back?

- Another youngster, Brisbane Bullets signing Craig Bradshaw, actually started for the Tall Blacks over the more experienced Tony Rampton. Bradshaw had nine points and four rebounds in 29 minutes and showed some tantalising glimpses of what he could become.

- Whenever a coach’s team is losing a big game, the second guessing inevitable starts about their substitution patterns or their strategies. It should come as no surprise therefore that Vucinic’s decision to sub out Pero Cameron after he picked up his fourth foul with the Tall Blacks still having a chance to get back in it in the final quarter came under scrutiny from the Fox Sports commentary team. Interesting too his decision to start normal super-sub Dillon Boucher instead of Phill Jones, although the Tall Blacks did actually look the better of the two teams for most of the first quarter.

- Two thumbs up to Tall Black Paora Winitana, who came to the aid of New Zealand national anthem singer Skylla Halstead when she drew a mental blank on the Maori words to ‘God Defend New Zealand’. Let’s face it, we’ve all had those moments when the mind goes blank at just the wrong time.

- Great to see Andrew Bogut, whilst not able to play for the Boomers this time around, at least at the game supporting his teammates and taking the time to sign autographs for the over 6,000 fans in attendance.

- No matter what Australia-New Zealand sporting event you see, the performance of the haka is not to be missed. The Tall Black’s performance of it on Monday was truly awe –inspiring.

Roll on Game Two!