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!
beast
Guest
where's Nathan Jawai? We need athleticism.. and is C. Steindl there? We need outside shooting too
Johnno
Guest
I remember that 3 Aijay, greta memories, we had a world class team then im sure that would give the current spain team a very good run for there money. Gaze and Heal were awesome, and are awesome in international basketball.It is a different style international basketball to NBA. But that team could match it with anyone and was physical too never got pushed around by anyone.
Aljay
Guest
Agreed Johnno, that was a great team playing well in front of a home crowd. Remember Gaze's three pointer against Greece? I fully understand what you mean about our 2000 offensive sets with the repeated high screens for Heal, leading to a jacked three or Bradkte continually receiving the ball just outside the high post. One of the biggest differences between that team and this is the amount that we allow ourselves to get pushed around. Going in with a frontline of Longley, Bradkte and Vlahov we would always be at least equal on the boards. The second difference is that we had a shooting guard who could easily take over at point when our starting point found it difficult to get the offense going. Now, once Mills struggles we have noone to turn to.
Johnno
Guest
Our 2000 team what a team we had Starting 5 Gaze Heal Big chris Rogers Bradke Longley Bench Brett Maher Andrew Vlahov Mike Cattalini CJ Bruton Ricky grace Ronaldson Mckinnon Chris Anstey Jason Smith -What a team can see why we should of got silver if we didn't play that stupid shuffle offence, heck who knows on the day if we were in the grand final we may of stepped up and beat the dream team you never know we had a lot of class, and Olympic tournament basketball is different to regular season NBA style.
Scotty Barby
Roar Guru
I'd chip in a tenner to get Ricky Grace to suit up.
Swampy
Guest
What a pisspour effort. Offensive sets evaporated. The reason I can't watch the NBL anymore is that players shoot too many threes - especially big men. Surprise, surprise the Boomers are an exact blueprint of the worst aspects of the NBL. This is clearly a coaching issue. At all levels. Maybe we need to remove the 3 pt line off the courts locally, or put it two steps inside the halfway line. Then only the Shane Heals of Australian basketball will shoot from there. I wouldn't rule out electro shock therapy. In fairness Spain looked good. Moved the ball quickly and made the extra pass. Went inside outside regularly. Sort of how you are meant to play in Fiba basketball. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Scotty Barby
Roar Guru
Agreed, the third quarter collapses are now a genuine concern. I'm not too sure what happens going into the break but the Boomers have definitely come out after half time with a lack of focus in both games. I guess the positive is that Brazil and Spain are quality sides who were expected to beat us. The real stuff starts now, a loss to China will effectively end our tournament. Hopefully coach Brown can correct the mental side of the game and have us playing four quarters. We've looked like World beaters in both of our first halves thus far. I still hold out hope that we can advance to the next round. There's no reason why we can't.
Roger the Alien
Guest
The Boomers are currently ranked 9th in the world. They cannot be expected to do much better than that at this Olympics.
rsingi
Roar Rookie
Peter Crawford deserves some minutes. He can shoot the ball and score which is what we need.
Aljay
Guest
Wow. The reality is that we have been in both games at the half but have bombed immensely in the third quarter due to a lack of intensity, aggression and focus. We have had our fourth quarter runs, but they have come in garbage time and been nothing more than cute. When the game is there for either team to take we have not played to our potential. We have had our a.....es handed to us twice.
Scotty Barby
Roar Guru
Spain shot the ball at a much better clip, 43% overall to the Boomers 37%. The Spaniards dominated the rebounding numbers, crushing the Boomers on the glass as expected 52-34. Pau Gasol finished with 20 points and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes. Fernandez: 17 points and 7 rebounds. Marc Gasol: 12 points, 7 rebounds. Felipe Reyes: 7 points, 12 rebounds. Ingles led the Boomers with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Mills: 11 points on 5-for-16 shooting, zero assists though. Newley: 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists. Dellavedova: 9 points, 5 assists. We'll be back against Thursday evening to do it all again as the Boomers face a must win matchup against China. Looking forward to your company.
Scotty Barby
Roar Guru
Great to see the Boomers fight it out until the final whistle, the result was in the books after three quarters though. Good signs heading into Thursday nights clash against China, they could have easily given up. This Aussie team will bounce back. Everyone except for Maric and Gibson has now contributed on the scoreboard. 82-70, Final, Spain win.
Scotty Barby
Roar Guru
Boomers making a nice run to finish off, the lead is back to 10. Spain with the cue in the rack a little early... 74-64, 1:51 to play
Scotty Barby
Roar Guru
48-33 Spain, 12-11 on the offensive end in Spain's favor too. We've missed so many shots which has inflated their dominance on the glass.
Scotty Barby
Roar Guru
Gaze has been pretty good at sugarcoating this performance. If the Boomers keep it under 20 they're basically on track to be who we thought they were.
Scotty Barby
Roar Guru
You always try to find positives in games like this, but I am genuinely struggling (as you can no doubt tell, ha). No injuries? I guess there's that.
Aljay
Guest
Do you have the rebounding stats?
Aljay
Guest
Ive got the BBC stream and have to put up with an Englishman telling us that are just not executing and playing me first basketball. Sad thing is he's right.
Scotty Barby
Roar Guru
Boomers just 6 free throw attempts to go with their 22 three point attempts. Somehow this mix hasn't been the blueprint for defeating Spain. I am shocked. 74-54 Spain, 5 minutes to play.
Aljay
Guest
Really embarrassed by our lack of defensive intensity and repeated failure to close out open shooters