It is going to be a very tough ordeal for the Australian Boomers in their quest for gold at the London Olympics.
Perhaps it should be a pursuit for a podium finish instead.
The Boomers sit in group B with Brazil, China, Spain, the hosts Great Britain and Russia. The hardest pool by far. On the other side are the gold medal favourites the US, Argentina, France, Tunisia, Nigeria and Lithuania.
The Andrew Bogut-less Australians have delivered several solid performances in the lead up to the games however the true test is about to come. There are no more exhibition matches – every game means business. The physical Aussies will be led by San Antonio Spurs third-string point guard Patty Mills and centre David Andersen.
Let’s take a look at their competition.
USA
The Americans could send two teams and still take home gold and silver. These guys should make it a back-to-back Olympic gold – even without Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Andrew Bynum and Blake Griffin not in the line-up due to injuries.
They do still have Kobe, LBJ and KD to lead the way. Coach Ks men went into the exhibition game against the reigning European champions Spain with a poor three-point shooting average, but improved to finish with 13 of 23 whereas the Spanish shot 26.4 percent. They’ve dominated the paint, running the fast breaks and on the defensive end and will be crowned Olympic champions.
Spain
It’s just a shame that the Spaniards are missing Ricky Rubio, Marc Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro and Rudy Fernandez because they would’ve served it right up to the Americans. Don’t get me wrong, they still will but not to the extent that they would’ve with those aforementioned on the court. Spain’s big impact players are down low on block – Paul Gasol and Serge Ibaka. They’re better than the US bigs but will be found lacking in the guard positions.
Brazil
A likely contended to play-off in the gold medal game. Just like Spain, Brazil has several NBA players representing – Nene, Anderson Varejao, Leandro Barbosa and Tiago Splitter. They also have guard Marcelinho Huertas who plays for Regal FC Barcelona – a serious playmaker (referred to as the Steve Nash of his league). They dished it up to Team USA recently and we may well just see a replay in that final game.
Argentina
Whatever you do, don’t tell the Argentinean’s that they’re old. Because Manu Ginobili has heard it all before during his time with the Spurs, and although this may be Andres Nocioni and Luis Scola’s last Olympics, they cannot be counted out. They also possess Carlos Delfino who is making a comeback form hernia surgery earlier in the year and 35 year-old Pablo Prigioni. Depth will be their downfall in London.
France
The French basketball team make their way back to the games after missing qualifications in 2004 and 2008: they took our silver in the Sydney 2000 games. They bring a solid team too to London. Led by Spurs point guard Tony Park, Le Bleus brings a lineup including Nicolas Batum, Joakim Noah, Ronny Turiaf, Kevin Seraphin, Boris Diaw, Mickael Pietrus and his brother Florent and Nando De Colo. Against this bunch however, all teams will need to do is shut down Parker and the games in theirs for the taking. Welcome back France but better luck next time.
Special mentions:
Russia and Lithuania.
Key games to watch:
29 July – Brazil v Australia.
29 July – Argentina v Lithuania.
31 July – Australia v Spain.
2 August – Brazil v Russia.
6 August – Australia v Russia.
6 August – Spain v Brazil.
6 August – Argentina v USA.
Cam Larkin
Roar Guru
For the Boomers it will be a very tough games against Spain tonight. They did push them recently however they're now playing for gold.
Johnno
Guest
-Opal's have just lost to France 74-70. The Opals also missed out on a medal at the recent world championships in 2011. -So Boomers and Opals tough start , the basketball standard in woman has really lifted globally. Aussies lost to Czech republic in the world title which were held in Czech republic last year. Aussy sport is really in the doldrums last 10 years, the hockeyroos woman lost to kiwis who are now higher ranked than them. Aussy sport is struggling in general , I hope the Opals rebound from this loss. Turkey who won silver in men's world title last year which were held in Turkey missed out on the Olympics. Global Basketball getting very exciting so many good teams coming through.
Cam Larkin
Roar Guru
Yep my error these guys.
sledgeross
Guest
Australia wont threaten the medals because they are simply not good enough. Besides Andersen, we dont have a consistent lowpost scorer (and even he likes to float out and shoot threes). Look how many points our starter Matt Neilsen scored. Patty Mills can fill it up in a hurry on occasion, but opted to shoot last night rather than pass to the open man. The amount of shots he is taking is unacceptable really. Dellavedova is a good set shooter, but cant get his shot off when he has close coverage, and he cannot drive left. The Boomers will try hard, but will be lucky to make the top 6.
Lachiegaff
Guest
Anyone who thinks Aus are a chance at a medal should take off their green and gold glasses and get real. Maric and Anderson a quality players, but without Bouges we can't dominate inside. My prediction is Aus will finish 4th in our pool and be eliminated by the US in the next game. If we can jag a 3rd place finish then 2nd place France or Argentina will send us home. I will continue to cheer them on and am proud of their effort against Brazil - just a shame we turned the ball over so much. That was the difference in the end.
Johnno
Guest
Maybe Bogut hasn't been at his best for Australia, but last night he would of made a huge difference. There is a big gap between mat tneilson say and bogut, and bogut is better than power forwad dave anderson too, he would of bogut caused all sorts of problems for brazil marking wise and would have opened a lot of space for pat mills.
The Answer
Guest
I do remember that 96 game against Lithuania and I really don't think Longley would have helped, Sabonis was incredible and simply destroyed us. Luc wouldn't have been mobile enough to stop his perimeter shooting. We did have Longley against the Lithuanian's i nthe bronze medal game 4 years later and lost to them again, but Sabonis had retired by that time. However I do agree that it has been some time since Bogut was at his best in the national colours.
Purple Shag
Roar Guru
Think Cam really had his wires crossed or is some kind of injury predicting soothsayer. Rubio is the only one out for spain at this point. Marc Gasol & Fernandez both started against China today & Navarro also played significant minutes. If they had Rubio fit, I could really see an upset Gold, especially after watching the US play against France with very little cohesion. Should be a fun tournament. Boomers will need a miracle though with one loss already & some really tough games ahead.
Mella
Guest
on paper Brazil are the 3rd strongest team, or at worst 4th after Argentina. Good effort by the boomers, contenders for Bronze I think.
Johnno
Guest
-Any team in men's basketball can beat anyone and results at last Olympics showed it Only USA can confidently be certain favourites. Teams like Turkey who got silver at last world title are not even at olympics, spain has a lot of injuries and stars missing and Argentina are very old. Andrew Bogut would of been massive help.
tonysalerno
Roar Guru
I have the luxury of hindsight to comment on this post. Although the Boomers have been set a tough draw from what they showed against their opening match against Brasil is that they may give the competition a shake. The #Boomers stormed home and were nearly held at bay by the Brazilians who are favoured to get one of the minor medals. Outstanding games from Mills, Ingles and Andersen- things are looking up for Australia at #London2012
Johnno
Guest
-Watched the match and t be honest was thinking what if's with annoyance. The annoyance basically meaning i think we have a good team we just need 1 big man. History in Olympic men's basketball shows you need a big centre. We in atlanta were good but not the same without Luke longely. in other words come semi finals time, you need a big man to be in the medal hunt. Luke Longley was 7'2 mark bradke only 6'10, was smashed around by Sabonis NBA centre from Lithuania. ANd tonight it showed there is a big difference between Andrew Bogut a top 5 NBA centre , and say Matt Neilisen. Bogut would off made a huge impact in the paint especially against that big Brazillian centre. Other than that our forwards and guards are strong Patt Mills, has really come on since being part of the NBA, showing the benefits of full time NBA training and playing. Bogut is a huge huge loss, more than i thought, matt Neilsen is only a power forwad at this Olympic level not a Bogut or Longley or Anstey.
Bludger
Guest
Watched the Brazil Oz match. We are pretty average as a team. We might finish top ten in this event with some luck, Brazil are not exactly world beaters.
Worlds biggest
Guest
Cameron, unless there has been recent injuries, Marc Gasol and Fernandez should be playing for Spain. Also Noah and Petrius are out for France.
Swampy
Guest
Johnno - there is only 12 spots. Similar to the football world cup, but with even less spots available, some good teams were always going to miss out. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Johnno
Guest
why no turkey or greece or croatia, is there a limit on euro teams.
Swampy
Guest
Interesting summary. Will be a strange Olympics without Turkey, Greece, Croatia or Serbia who have all been very strong in recent years and troubled the US with their physical approach. Most of the teams are more athletic which should make the games more entertaining to watch but definitely plays into the hands of the US. No one can come close in a battle of athletes. I can't see Australia matching Russia & Spain in any category so if they advanced to a chance at a medal from pool play a lot of things would have to go our way in other games. Watch out for Lithuania - they are Olympic Games specialists. Some lesser light always steps up and makes a name for himself during their Olympic campaign. I wouldn't take France lightly either - aside from Tony Parker they are loaded with defensive specialists and at international level (where you can practice newly learnt Greco roman holds) they may cause the opposition fits. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.