The New Zealand men's national basketball team is the senior men's national basketball team of New Zealand. The team is nicknamed the Tall Blacks. The Tall Blacks name is one of many New Zealand national team nicknames related to the All Blacks. Over its history, the team has won three FIBA Oceania Championships, and twice appeared in the Summer Olympic Games. It participated in its first FIBA Asia Cup in 2017, finishing in fourth place. Haka The Tall Blacks perform a traditional Haka (Māori challenge) before every game, but due to the influence of Pāora Winitana and Paul Henare, it is very different from the ones performed by the All Blacks. History There is a long and storied history of basketball in New Zealand. The Tall Blacks competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and finished with a 1–5 record, their only win coming against Angola, in the playoff for eleventh place. In 2001, they defeated Australia, in a three-game series to qualify for the 2002 FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis, United States. At the tournament, they finished fourth, after beating Puerto Rico in the quarter-finals, before losses to Serbia and Montenegro and Germany. Tall Blacks captain Pero Cameron was the only non-NBA player named to the All-Tournament team in Indianapolis. The Tall Blacks also qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics, but again finished with a 1–5 record, and lost to Australia in the playoff for ninth place. Their most noted moment was on the 7th day of the games, when they defeated the then reigning 2002 FIBA World Championship gold medalists, Serbia and Montenegro, by a score of 90–87. 2006 FIBA World Championship At the 2006 FIBA World Championship, the Tall Blacks were not to repeat their fourth-place finish from 2002. After an 0–3 start, the Tall Blacks rallied into the second round, with two straight wins to close out the group stage. However, they would fall in the round of 16 to the defending Olympic gold medalists Argentina, 79–62. After that disappointment, Tab Baldwin resigned as the head coach of the Tall Blacks, and was replaced by Nenad Vučinić, his longtime assistant coach. 2011 Stanković Cup The squad competed at the 2011 Boris Stanković Cup in China. They played 3 games against difficult opposition, China, Russia, and Angola. After going down to Russia in the first game by just 3 points, the Tall Blacks quickly put that behind them,