Flavell says stopping Brownlee was key in NZ's win over Gilas

MANILA, Philippines — New Zealand's one-sided 87-70 lynching of Gilas Pilipinas happened through a collective effort, while its unforgiving defense evidently shut down naturalized player Justin Brownlee during their showdown last Sunday in Auckland.

Tohi Smith-Milner, Corey Webster, Reuben Te Rangi and Jordan Ngatai all played major roles in the Tall Blacks' overwhelming win against the visiting Gilas team.

But their overall defense made sure Brownlee won't get the touches that could allow him to get into his rhythm.

"Shout out to our group and match-ups with Brownlee in particular. He was number one, the tiger guy. How he goes, I believe, is how Philippines goes in a large part," New Zealand coach Judd Flavell, whose team's win avenged its 93-89 loss to Gilas in their November collision during the second window at the Mall of Asia Arena.

And the guys, Reuben (Te Rangi) had that match-up, Max (Darling), Jordan (Ngatai) at different times, I think, did a phenomenal job. And that's who we are."

Brownlee finished the game with just 10 points on just eight attempts, a far cry from his 39-point effort in Gilas' 91-84 defeat to Taiwan last Thursday.

Flavell, a former Tall Blacks-turned-head coach, said they live up to tough matchup, while noting that they were motivated with the thought of making the other team uncomfortable with their defense.

"We love those match-ups. No disrespect to Brownlee, but we live for those opportunities to go ahead and have that match-up," said the four-time New Zealand NBL champion coach.

"We want to be up on the floor. We want to be pressuring the basketball. We just can't allow teams to feel comfortable," he added.

The 50-year-old New Zealand head coach admitted the physical battle against Gilas was something he expected, knowing the stakes were high in their second face off in the qualifiers.

"This game, we knew like it's a battle physically, basically, that's what we took away the first time we met, and tonight, they still got the rebounding numbers in the offensive glass," he noted. "But a huge point is in the end, we got the rebounding count so we were able to impose ourselves on them. I guess that's what you get in international basketball because no one's gonna back down."

Gilas obviously missed the inside presence of 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto, who is out with a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) on his knee.

AJ Edu, who took his spot, finished with seven points and 15 rebounds for Gilas.

New Zealand closed the qualifiers topping Group B with its 5-1 record, followed by the Philippines (4-2), Taiwan (3-3) with Hong Kong at the tailend (0-6).

The Tall Blacks and the Filipinos have both secured their respective slots in the FIBA Asia Cup set this August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.