BARCELONA (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - In my nine years as a basketball scribe I can't recall a bigger story in Oceania than the alleged tanking situation involving the Boomers.

Originally that was the topic of this column, but with the investigation ongoing, it was not the right time for an opinion piece.

Needless to say I will revisit it once the dust has settled, because I think there are plenty of lessons to be learned as we enter a new era of enforcing competitiveness in all games.

The good thing about leaving that alone is I get to talk about basketball.

It seemed the FIBA Basketball World Cup was set up for a string of thrilling knockout clashes with some of the match-ups that fell into place.

But it hasn't turned out that way, with just four games decided by single figures after the group stage.

Leading the way in blowing their opposition out has been the USA, who may not be the tournament's slickest offensive unit, but when they turn up the defence every opponent has seemed completely unnerved.

Watching them courtside the thing that stands out most is the length to go with their athleticism, and it has a huge impact on opposition jump-shooters, who rush even when there is no need to.

That intimidation factor wasn't there for Mexico's Gustavo Ayon after his stint in the NBA, taking Anthony Davis to school with a clinical display.

Lithuania's Martynas Pocius, while not quite as dominant, also looked very comfortable against the Americans with his ability to score at the basket, pull-up or get his shot off undeterred.

That could be from his four-year stint playing against high-level athletes in the NCAA under US coach Mike Krzyzewski, who I am sure he impressed greatly in the Semi-Final.

For a team to top the USA they need a full rotation playing with such confidence, and they also need to pick their moments better than Lithuania and Slovenia, who fell away badly in the third quarter as the defending champs scored one fastbreak basket after another.

A large part of that was the way both teams kept attacking the offensive glass and flattening their offence late in the shot clock, which left them mighty vulnerable in transition.

As Greece showed in 2006, the key to staying close to the USA is not slowing the game heading towards your basket, but restricting how often the Americans head back the other way at speed.

Sometimes a turnover out-of-bounds is much better than a contested shot that effectively becomes an outlet pass against the USA, and o-boards are a luxury.

The other key is executing counters that exploit the Americans' exuberance in the passing lanes.

If there is anyone who can do that - apart from the dispatched Spaniards - it is Milos Teodosic and Serbia, and I can't wait to see how they go about it.

What an amazing knockout tournament we have seen from the Serbs who, while unlucky to finish fourth in Group A, showed no sign of the incredible play that has blown out Greece, Brazil, and France early before weathering Nicolas Batum's unbelievable display.

Two other nail-biters were Australia-Turkey and New Zealand-Lithuania, where in one heartbreaking swoop both Oceania teams fell agonisingly short of a local derby in the quarter-finals. I'll analyse both teams' performances in a later column.

One player worth mentioning now though, is Tall Blacks combo guard Corey Webster, who used Spain 2014 as his personal coming-out party.

His 26 points against Lithuania is one of the best performances from an Oceania player in memory.

Kirk Penney scored 37 points against the same opposition at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, Patty Mills rocked out 39 in a group game against Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics, while Shane Heal banged in nine triples and 30 points against the Kiwis in a qualification game at the end of the 2004 Olympics.

Webster didn't score as many points, but his was on a very big stage with the Lithuanian defence near its best.

It deserves to be ranked right up there with some of Oceania's greats, as does Phill Jones' 33 points in the crunch game against China in 2002.

Webster is one of the great success stories of the New Zealand Breakers and their owners, the Blackwells, who repeatedly stuck with the young North Shore guard even when he was his own worst enemy off the court.

Marc Hinton captured this great article where retiring Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic gave Paul Blackwell heavy praise, suggesting he had contributed more to New Zealand basketball than anyone else.

Vucinic has been a big advocate of his players looking for contracts in Europe - to the point where it has almost become a running gag amongst his team - so his recognition of the man whose money allows young Kiwis to be in a professional basketball environment at home means a lot.

Without that the Tall Blacks' consistent giant-killing and giant-maiming performances probably wouldn’t be possible.

Whether they will be possible without Vucinic is a big question.

He is truly one of the greatly underappreciated coaches in world basketball, made to earn a living in obscure competitions when he could hold his own in any league.

However, such an amazing servant of New Zealand basketball deserves a tribute article of his own, and rest assured that will come down the track.

Another big question is who takes the reins next? Word is Vucinic’s predecessor Tab Baldwin, who led the Kiwis to fourth place in 2002, is interested.

While some say Tab comes with baggage, his basketball IQ is exceptional, he understands the New Zealand style of game and Vucinic’s schemes, and he knows international basketball inside-out.

I think Paul Henare is a Tall Blacks coach in the making, but not yet, so unless there is another exceptional candidate I will certainly throw my support behind a trip Back to the Future.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

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