New Zealand Team’s Haka Confuses USA’s Derrick Rose, James Harden at the FIBA [VIDEO]
The New Zealand’s basketball team stunned the USA at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain on Tuesday with their haka dance, leaving the Americans hilariously baffled.
The Tall Blacks lost the match 98-71 against the famous USA team, but not before challenging the other team with their traditional war dance.
As seen in the video, Derrick Rose, James Harden and Kenneth Faried look very confused by the Kiwis’ unusual cheer dance. As some online commenters have noted, the look on their faces was the most hilarious thing about the game.
The Americans’ open-mouthed reactions have become viral, with Twitter users poking fun at the U.S. players’ baffled expressions.
Apart from the understandable confusion in the players’ face, there wasn’t seem to be any negative reaction from the U.S. team, until The Warriors’ Andre Iguodala, who isn’t playing in FIBA, tweeted something that New Zealand-born Oklahoma Thunder centre Steven Adams thought was disrespectful.
New Zealand thought they dance was gone intimidate us.... That ain't nothing but the A town stump! #GoUSA #FIBAWorldCup2014
— Andre Iguodala (@andre) September 2, 2014
“@andre show some respect for my culture,” Adams replied, though he deleted it within an hour.
Haka is a traditional ancestral war dance from the Maori people of New Zealand. Apart from the country’s basketball team, the rugby team also performs haka before their international matches.
The Tall Blacks claimed victory over the Ukraine on Thursday with 73-61 win.
