I think France is lacking a lot of its team so Canada might have a shot there. Turkey is also in the conversation for group one.

As for group two, might be tight between Greece and Italy.

Serbia should win group 3 easily

Angola are the long time AfroBasket champs. They are no pushovers despite being knocked off by Nigeria recently

Nobody rating New Zealand?

Not really, no. They'll cause an upset or two but they don;t have the horses to win their tournament.

France, New Zealand, Turkey and Canada all tough, that is a difficult group compared to the others IMHO, very hard for the Kiwis, who I do rate with Adams playing for sure...

Adams is not playing, as I understand it.

Yup, and that's a big reason why their group will be too hard to get over I think...

Really good half of basketball from the TBs at both ends, except for their 4/15 3p shooting. Had they hit a few more triples this game is almost over, but as it is a 38-31 lead is handy but far from safe.

The Webster brothers both looking pretty good out there, Fotu, Abercrombie, Vukona and Ili have all been solid so far.

France had a hard time with the Philippines. It is a good indication for the Tall Blacks that they are ahead right now. Bodes well for their tournament.

Philippines on the charge now.

Huge win by NZ! They absorbed everything the Philippines and their crowd could throw at them (closing from 13 down to 1 in the third) and steadied like a veteran team to win 89-80.

The Webster brothers were dynamite - Tai with 25p and 11r, Corey with 23p and no defender could stay in front of either of them.

Abercrombie had 13p, 7r, 3s and a string of big buckets in the fourth, Fotu with 17p, 5r and 3a, while Vukona and Shea Ili were huge without it showing on the stats.

The TBs are now in the SFs and get a free swing at France tomorrow. A win will see them play either Turkey or Senegal and a loss will book a date with Canada, who snuck by Senegal tonight, 58-55.

I'd love to see NZ with us in the Olympics. France struggling with Philippines makes France seem beatable.

It might be a surprisingly close game, then.

I am hoping NZ get through. I'd much rather have to beat NZ than France at the Olympics.

Very impressive first half from NZ, they lead 31-23 and have shut down the French offence almost completely.

Tai Webster was hot in the first quarter, Abercrombie and Corey Webster found their range in the second and Vukona is doing what Vukona does.

Let's hope they can keep going!

When Corey Webster hit a sweet pull-up to start the final term NZ led 50-38, but after that they simply ran out of steam, their thin bench and last night's tough game catching up with them.

France went on something like a 20-4 run to win 66-59 as NZ's defensive rotations disappeared as did their offensive rebounding - they had 17 to 3/4 time but just three in the final term.

Corey Webster had 21p on a bad shooting night, Vukona 12r on a turnover-prone night, Tai Webster was quality but couldn't get involved enough and Tom Abercrombie did a bit of everything (including blocking a Lauvergne dunk attempt) but couldn't buy as basket in the second half.

France now play Turkey in the SF and NZ face Canada, with the winners meeting on Sunday for a spot in Rio.

Hoping for a Turkey and NZ final.

I suspect it will be an NZ v France rematch, but both SFs will be tough.

You reckon NZ could beat Canada? I just want an underdog who we can beat to get through because the winner of this group will be in our Olympic pool

I think NZ will outsmart Canada, so if they have a decent night from the perimeter I think they can win. The Vukona/Fotu v Thompson battle of the boards will be huge though, that's three of the best o-boarders on the planet.

BTW the other SFs are:

Belgrade
Serbia v Czech Republic
Puerto Rico v Latvia

Turin
Italy v Mexico
Greece v Croatia

NZ will need the guys like Loe & Bartlett coming off the bench to make some shots to keep the scoreboard ticking over while Henare rests Tai & Corey Webster, Abercrombie and Fotu.
It saddens me to think how well this team could play with Penney, Adams and Pledger.

No huge surprises last night with Serbia and Puerto Rico progressing to the final in Belgrade. Italy and Croatia will match up in Turin after the Croats got 18 up on Greece in the second term but had that lead flushed away, doing very well in the end to steady and win.

Most people rated Greece at the start of the tournament, so their exit at the hands of Croatia surprised me.

How would Australia go against Italy or Croatia?

Not a great first half by NZ, they got sucked into Canada's tempo, rushed their offence, gave up too many offensive boards and lost Fotu to injury. Still, it's 42-42 so they'll feel pretty good going into the third.

The Websters have both been fantastic (24p between them), but the TBs have to find a way to slow the Canadians and overcome their physicality without Fotu if they're going to pull this out. Tough ask.

Ili playing some awesome d on Corey Joseph

NZ go down by 6. Corey Webster the top scorer in the game.

Shattering. They did everything but win that game playing Vukona at C, Abercrombie at PF and either Bartlett or Tai Webster at SF almost the entire second half.

They weren't helped by the refs at all, but also some silly soft fouls by the TBs to give up and-ones.

That was one of the best games I've seen Corey Webster play, so controlled, Abercrombie had 16p and 6r, T Webster 15p, 10r and 4a, Vukona 6p and 8r, Ili 5p, 4r, 3a and 2s.

The fact they got so close after losing Fotu is quite remarkable and just reaffirms what an incredible 'team' the Tall Blacks are.

They've been pretty competitive in the qualifying tournament. It is a real shame that they couldn't get a bit of luck on their side.

NZ are one of only four countries to make the knockout rounds of the past four WCs, they're no flash in the pan, they're a legit international team.

They are recognised as such pretty much everywhere but here and NZ!

What's impressive, though, is that they're massively undermanned but they managed to stick with France and Canada. We're talking about a team without its only NBA player, who lost their best player in Kirk Penney to retirement, and whose bench is unenviable. By being competitive they have surprised me and makes me think that France and Canada are well within our aim at the Olympics, whichever it is we end up facing in our pool.

No question, but they're undermanned and undersized pretty much every year and produce quality basketball nonetheless. It would be nice to see them with a full squad in 2019 to see what they can do.

Serbia thrashed Puerto Rico last night to qualify for Rio and were joined by neighbours Croatia, who beat Italy 84-78 in overtime.

I think the Boomers will be hoping Canada can pull of a big upset tonight and we get Croatia and the Canucks in our group, because Serbia are the real deal. Still, if you want to medal you have to beat a number of real deal teams!

How do they decide which of these 3 tournament winners are the 1 and 2 qualifiers?

And yeah, definitely rooting for Canada at this stage. Croatia will be tough but I am guessing they're the lesser evil between Croatia and Italy. Serbia are probably in the medal conversation seeing as they've already done it recently. I think Canada will be also-rans.

"I think Canada will be also-rans."

Every country other than the US is just making up the numbers. The gap between them and the rest of the world just keeps getting bigger every year unfortunately.

There is still silver and bronze

Unfortunately France beat Canada (83-74, Parker and De Colo with 46 between them) and the Boomers drew France and Serbia in our group.

What that means is we'll probably know after the first two nights whether we're a medal chance or not, then to top it off we have the US third.

Still, our team has been together a long time now, and you see how that helps the TBs., so I'm excited by the prospect of taking on the best to see where we stand.