It was a cliff-hanging position for the New Zealand. After tasting defeat from their first two games - here they are in an "unenviable position" in Group C. The team now has to win at least a couple of the remaining three matches and crossed their fingers that the upcoming results will be in their favor.

Mika Vukona, the Power Forward, did not lose his compassionate heart for the team.

"It's in our culture not to give up," he said moments after the defeat against Dominican Republic.

He added: "It's a tournament; you never know what's going to happen. We're still positive although it's just disappointing at the same time to get two losses in a row like we have."

He continued: "The most disappointing for us has been that we are not able to do what are capable of doing and what we have planned to do."

"We are not sticking to our game plan long enough. We are playing in spurts. Obviously that's not good enough at this level. When you know you can do something and it doesn't turn out like that, that's the hardest problem to solve."

"People see what we can do, but we are not holding on enough to win games. In the pre-season tournament, (coming into Spain 2014), we were getting in there getting the confidence that we can play the sort of basketball we wanted to for 40 minutes. It didn't work out. That's the most disappointing thing," explained by the 32-year-old player.

He quickly pointed out that the Tall Blacks could go beyond a typical basketball team.

"We play with our hearts on our sleeves. Clichéd as it may sound but that's how we play. That's how we function. It's happened in the past. I think it's going to be the future as well," Vukona promised.

"We have three more games. Well, the USA is going to be a big hurdle. But we have two more games we can do something."

(Source: FIBA official website)