Tall Blacks’ 'Haka' dance spices up Gilas tussle

MANILA, Philippines – New Zealand’s Tall Blacks tried to instill fear and intimidation on Gilas Pilipinas even before tip-off in performing their traditional war cry they called at home “Haka.”

Corey Webster and the rest of Team New Zealand performed their famous tribal dance at midcourt after the playing of the national anthem in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena Wednesday.

Impressive with their vigorous movement with an accompaniment of rhythmic chants, the Tall Blacks drew applause from the crowd.

War haka was originally performed by the Maori people of New Zealand before a battle to proclaim their strength and prowess to intimidate the opposition.

It has become widely known around the world as New Zealand’s sports teams started to perform it before their international matches.

The Tall Blacks are expected to do their war dance before each of their games in the Manila OQT.

They started the game with great energy and intensity, taking the early initiative and the opening quarter at 21-17.

Isaac Fotu broke the ice on a tip-in and got an early two-possession advantage at 6-2 on an easy layup by Corey Webster and breakaway jam by Thomas Abercrombie from a steal.

From 15-17 down, Tai Webster and Mika Vukona scored six straight points, and the Kiwis carried a four-point lead over into the next quarter.

They appeared to draw boost from their Haka.

Check out the video below!

The Haka. Always a sight to behold! #goosebumps pic.twitter.com/RliVitDzzg

— Dino Maragay (@dino_mars) July 6, 2016