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The Australian Boomers have got their Rio 2016 campaign off to a fantastic start with a 21-point drubbing of France at the Carioca Arena.
They hardly looked challenged throughout the match, as they led from start to finish with each player who stepped on the floor playing in sync and allowing their structures on both offence and defence to flourish.
Apart from one flurry where Tony Parker put on a one-man show for France at the back end of the second quarter, they were never even in the contest as the lead ballooned through the double digits for much of the final three quarters.
The Boomers defence was the most impressive part of their game – they didn’t allow the French to play any sort of attacking game.
While France didn’t make good decisions, and their NBA talent of Rudy Gobert, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw failed to stand up, their turnovers were basic and needless as they ended up producing 17 compared to the Boomers seven.
The Boomers defensive effort was led by inside men Andrew Bogut and Aron Baynes, who were also fantastic on offence, but it took a complete team effort to do as well as they did.
It felt like every French shot was contested, every rebound fought for and nothing was given away easy – at the other end of the floor though it was a completely different story.
France defended terribly and it felt like everything the Boomers tried on offence worked. While Baynes and Bogut destroyed them in the paint, their combination with guards Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova and Kevin Lisch was absolutely brilliant to watch.
Dellavedova and Bogut in particular who combined for a number of ally-oop plays just had everything running in sync and it was impossible to question it when everything was working to near perfection.
To realise the difference between the two sides, all you really need to do is look at the shooting percentages, with the Boomers at close to 60 percent, the French struggling to reach 45.
The Boomers then, with a commanding win to open their Rio campaign and an important one for their medal hopes, will now turn their attention to Serbia in what shapes as another massive game.
Final score:
Australian Boomers 87
France 66
The Australian Boomers kick off their Olympic Games campaign with an all-important match, likely to help decide second spot in Group A against France. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 3:15am (AEST).
With the all-conquering United States of America in Group A, first place seems out of reach for the rest of the sides – you can’t very well expect anyone to beat them in the group stages before the tournament begins even if they have been weakened.
But Australia and France are almost unarguably the next best sides in Group A, and this match should really decide second spot unless Serbia pull off a surprise upset.
The Boomers were scratchy during their warm-up games, not playing anywhere near their full potential which seems to be the trend recently, coupled with inconsistency after a generally poor farewell series against a college all stars team before they flew to Rio.
However, their final match against China looked to have a lot more fluency in attack, and their structure in defence, particularly when Dallas Mavericks centre Andrew Bogut was on the court looked a lot stronger as they demolished China.
Still, the fact they lost a couple of matches and were ordinary before beating Argentina will have coach Andrej Lemanis worried.
Where the Boomers will score enough points from is a major question as well – their only genuine scoring options are Patty Mills and Aron Baynes inisde the paint – while others can put on a cameo, they all need to be on their day for the Boomers to pose enough of a threat.
The French team will once again be under the control of Tony Parker – the experience of the point guard will lift everyone around him and if the Australian defence can’t control him then the game is already over.
Parker obviously adds a lot on defence as well, and with the likes of Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw roaming the paint, the Boomers scoring problems will only be pushed further into the spotlight.
At the same time, they had to work their way through the qualification stages and they struggled – while things weren’t ideal without a full squad, they needed to be better than that to suggest a strong run here, and playing the Boomers in their first game isn’t the best way to settle into things.
The sides have met once before, way back in the semi-final of Sydney 2000 as France won 76-52.
Prediction
This is going to be a fantastic match, but the Boomers should get the job done here. France’s form hasn’t been great, and while they are better than that on paper the Boomers will find a way.
Boomers by 6.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores and coverage of this Olympics Basketball Group A match from 3:15am (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde