@Philpalmer - hope you'll enjoy your GB vs NZ game at the Copper Box...
Firstly... have a look at some of the NZ basketball 'Haka' videos before you go to the game.. then you can choose the best place to be for this.
I was lucky enough to have many chances and angles to cover their Haka last year at the World Championships.. personal favourites are either side-on or from behind the opposing team (note, you might be limited to where you can access!)
As for the game of basketball - you are in luck that it is the Copper Box, with lighting one of the best at any indoor venue in the UK!
Your shooting location will be behind the base line (behind the baskets) - whether you have photographers benches or not, depends on the game/organisers.
If benches are there, then those are your locations to choose from.
If not - try to get to the corners (between the advertising boards.
(lot will also depend on VIP seating - but I am sure you are provided space to shoot)
Many agency photographers tend to choose either right at the corner on the base-line (right hand side when looking behind the basket).
This is due to most players being right handed and there fore running towards you/basket more often - so you get more face-on photos of players running through the channels.
But as with many rules/best positions - there is no need to stick to them.
Personally I often choose the left hand corner ...
Other favourite position of agency photographers is the spot closest to the basket (on the benches).
If there are no benches .. these spots are often taken by the TV camera and the floor wipers.
Reason why I like to go as far to the corner of the base line to shoot, is that from there you get the widest un-obstructed view of the action at all times.
Closer to the basket you will get possible more dramatic images of the players at the hoop.. but often find your view blocked by players in the paint or referees black trousers (I have a 100000's of images of referees trousers).
From the corner you can cover the players bringing up the ball - rotating the ball on the perimeter - players running through the channels for lay-up/slam-dunk - players shooting three pointers over the defenders - pictures of the benches and coaches - plus a nice background with the crowds (assuming there will be one to make it worth worrying about)
If you have the corner spot - and sitting on the floor (and if you use remotes) - try putting a remote next to you (be kind to other photographers and if space is limited.. make sure everyone is OK with it.. I know.. I am overly polite) You can use something like 24-70 or 16-35 to get a nice wide view of the action with the crowd/benches/etc in the frame. As with all remotes, you'll get a lot more garbage than keepers.. but good ones are good!
Your main lens probably will be 70-200 - that will cover most of the court for you.
Depending on the event I cover, my own set-up can be anything from 2 bodies to 5-6 bodies - this is with various remotes set around.
But my go-to handheld lenses are 16-35 / 70-200 / 200 f1.8 / 200-400 f4 with 1.4X
Covering basketball with a 300mm or 400mm prime does give you some nice different images - but not sure I personally would choose that if I am there to mainly cover the action (i.e not wanting to focus on expressions or certain players for a feature).
You didn't say whether you've covered lots of basketball before... but the images to look for could be :
- Players rising to the basket (nice ones when the player runs through two defenders with feet in the air) -try to always include at least a small part of the basket in these images!
- Defender blocking a shot - both players in the air (shoot wide enough to have feet in the image - or tight enough to focus on the face/ball)
- Coaches getting animated... OK - this depends on the coaches and not sure either of these really gets too animated ;-)
- Subs bench jumping up for a big score/dunk/three pointer
- Players celebrating when scoring at the other end (they tend to turn around towards fans/bench - so you get nice stuff from the opposite end!)
- Slam-Dunk - ok, it's bit of a cliche image, and depends on the players on the court, etc... but we all want some of these from the games.
- Defence - players hustling the forwards with the ball.
- Shots through the D - when you get the forward on the perimeter just framed through the crowded paint..
Would post some samples of my images - but covering a tournament abroad.. so keeping me doing 16 hour days here.. so limited time.
Feel free to ask anything else... and can try to answer them in some sort of half intelligent way.
OH - almost forgot, you naturally need to take pictures of the cheerleaders ;-)
Sorry to post such a long reply... and probably mostly non-sense.