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Game 2 of the Boomers Olympic campaign will see them go head to head against one of the tournament’s European powerhouse’s in Spain. Join us from 8:15pm AEST to see if our Aussie squad can cause a shock upset against the heavily favored Spanish outfit.
The Boomers are coming off a close 75-71 defeat at the hands of Brazil whilst Spain defeated a gritty Chinese side with relative ease 97-81.
With the result looking all but over the Boomers were able to rally late against Brazil and almost pulled off a shock comeback.
If not for a few 50/50 balls failing to bounce their way the Boomers could be looking at a vastly different scenario heading into tonight’s game.
Patty Mills led the way for Australia finishing with 18 points and 4 assists against a tough Brazilian outfit.
Mills has the ability to takeover games offensively when he has everything going but unfortunately for the Boomers we saw the other side of Mills streaky shooting as he went 1-for-9 from three-point line. If those shots fall the Boomers win. That’s the Russian roulette style of the Boomers offense.
Backing up Mills on the scoring end was small forward Joe Ingles. Ingles would finish with 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting but would have little influence on the result until the final minutes. If the Boomers are going to stay close to Spain Ingles must contribute consistently for four quarters.
Unfortunately for Australia outside of Mills this particular squad is starved of offensive creativity. Although we’d all love to see an even contribution on the offensive end it will be Mills ability to score efficiently which will dictate how successful this Olympic campaign can be.
For Spain it was business as usual in their opening game against China. The Spaniards found little resistance defensively against an inexperienced Chinese outfit and were able to score at will, shooting over 57% from the field.
This particular Spanish side is littered with NBA talent. The Gasol brothers, Serge Ibaka, Jose Calderon and Rudy Fernandez all played key roles in the comfortable 16 point win.
If the Boomers are going to be any chance this evening big men Aleks Maric, Matt Neilsen, David Anderson and Aron Baynes must have an influence from the opening tip. Spain scores the majority of their points on the inside and dominated the rebounding count 39-25 against China. Look for Spain to again assert themselves in the paint early and press their advantage on the glass.
If the Boomers can improve on their 4-for-22 outside shooting from the opening game and protect the ball more effectively (19 turnovers against Brazil) who knows what could happen. The Boomers may be less talented from a personnel perspective but as we saw against Brazil this team doesn’t know how to quit.
If Australia can remain competitive for the first three-quarters and limit the Spanish influence inside the paint who knows what could happen.
Let’s go Boomers!