Americans can’t believe the name of New Zealand’s national basketball team – with many mistakenly thinking it could be racist

American basketball fans have reacted in shock to the nickname for the New Zealand men’s national basketball team at the World Cup, with many believing the ‘Tall Blacks’ handle is a racist slur.

The Kiwis have kept their hopes of a top-16 finish alive with an overtime victory over Jordan on Monday night – but all Twitter users wanted to talk about is the side’s name.

A tweet from governing body FIBA showing footage of the game went viral after the match when American fans noticed the caption.

’13 threes on a 52% 3PT shooting,’ it read. ‘Tall Blacks caught fire from beyond the arc to earn their first win.’

Outraged fans piled into the comments immediately.

‘WHO caught fire from beyond the arc?!?!?’ said one.

‘The what now?’ responded another 

‘Oh, they did, did they?’ said a third.

‘There is no way they got rid of The Indians and they callin mfs Tall blacks,’ said another.

Many basketball fans who were familiar with the New Zealand basketball team, and their moniker, were happy to correct the Americans.

‘America learning there’s a whole world with its own history,’ replied one user.

‘The replies are why nobody takes the US seriously. Bunch of closed minded, uneducated motherf**kers over there. Scary stuff,’ said another.

A large number of New Zealand national teams also share similar titles, including the All Blacks in rugby, the White Ferns in women’s cricket and the Black Sticks for both genders in field hockey.

Many sports teams in New Zealand have similar names, following the famous ‘All Blacks’ moniker of the New Zealand’s national rugby union side

The All Blacks (pictured performing their pre-match haka before playing Australia in July) are easily the most popular and successful of New Zealand’s national teams, which explains why the basketball team’s handle was inspired by their name

New Zealand’s men’s badminton side even adopted the very controversial nickname The Black Cocks in reference to the sport’s shuttlecock, in an effort to gain publicity and sponsorship in 2005.

However, that handle was never adopted for formal use after objections were raised by Kiwis and the International Badminton Federation.

The All Blacks name refers to their uniform, which is almost completely comprised of the colour.

The rugby side is the pride of the country thanks to the sport’s huge popularity in New Zealand and the fact the All Blacks have long been regarded as the best in the world.

They adopted black as their colour because black caps were already being awarded to the country’s best athletes during the team’s infancy in the late 19th Century. 

Black was also an easy colour to dye clothes at the time – in the late 19th Century – and it also helped highlight the Silver Fern, which is the Kiwi national emblem. 

In 2021, New Zealand football considered changing the name of the men’s national soccer team fearing the moniker All Whites could be seen as racist.

The Tall Blacks now have it all to play for at the World Cup as they head into their final group match against Greece.