The Australian men’s basketball team has won their first opening game at the Olympics in 20 years, and it was a memorable flogging of a high quality opponent.
France, ranked number five in the world and boasting NBA talent across the floor, capitulated to the slick Australians 87-66.
It wasn’t all one way traffic – initially at least. Australia quickly ran up a 15-point lead early in the second quarter before French guard Tony Parker caught fire, pouring on 16 points himself against an Australian team who only scored 16 points for the quarter.
The lead was just three points at half time after a sloppy finish to the quarter.
The half-time break did the trick though – the Boomers quickly running away with the game and opening a huge lead that was never challenged again.
The Boomers were led by NBA stars Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova (10 assists), with other NBA players Aron Baynes and Patty Mills big contributors. Bogut and Dellavedova both recorded +28 in plus/minus as the pair combined brilliantly.
Mills led all scorers with 21 points, while Bogut scored 18 points shooting nine from ten from the field. Baynes dominated from the opening possession on his way to a strong performance, with 14 points and six rebounds.
Full Australia vs France box scores here.
Kevin Lisch, the NBL MVP, was a hot touch, providing firepower from the bench for a quick seven points as the pinewarmers scored 26 in total.
France were disappointing, tentative and ineffective. While Tony Parker had 18 points, he only had two points outside of the entire second quarter. An air-ball three signalled the end of his run.
Quality NBA players Boris Diaw, Nic Batum (on a $120 million contract at Charlotte) and Rudy Gobert managed just 19 points together.
The Australians looked to credit their coaching, with the French well matched-up and often quickly stifled in attack. The offence, however, wasn’t a big problem.
Defensively, Les Blues disgraced their world number five ranking.
Gobert, a noted defensive mauler, was hapless as the French defence resembled a sieve early before becoming a fast lane to a bucket. Bogut and Dellavedova combined for a number of easy alley-oop dunks from range in the first three quarters, before Bogut found he was able to do it himself, waltzing into the paint to slam home twice. It was pitiful from the French.
The Australians scored 50 points in the paint versus France’s 22, but the standout statistic was in turnovers. France committed 17 turnovers – six of those early, while Australia kept their turnovers to seven, a number of those falling late as the game wound down.
While it was a historic night for Australian basketball, there may be some injury concerns for Patty Mills and Bogut. Mills spent time on the floor being stretched out, while Bogut – coming off a miracle fast knee-injury recovery – was regularly sat and worked on.
Bogut’s influence on the game was significant. Credited with one block, he was defensively elite and also showed why he’s one of the best ball-moving big men in the world, picking up five assists.
(And back in the real world, Bogut did recommend Dellavedova to his Golden State Warriors team. Delly came out of the local Bay Area school St Marys, but didn’t even get a camp invite. Of course, he then went to the Cavaliers and matched against Bogut in the NBA Finals, twice. Bogut’s an assist machine!)
It’s easy to salivate over that match but the competition quickly moves on. Australia play Serbia on Tuesday at 3am (AEST) in the next Group A match. They’ll also face China, Venezuela, and, ahem, the USA.
While few expect the USA national team – boasting the likes of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving (born in Melbourne, mind you), Carmelo Anthony and a host of elite stars – to be troubled by Australia, the focus is initially on getting out of Group A.
The top four from Group A will progress to playing Group B in quarterfinal knock-out match-ups. The higher ranking you are in your group, the lower ranking you face in the opposite group.
It’s not too early to say that France – a common pick for the silver medal at the Games – will be rocked.
It is too early to think about Australia going as high as second on the Group A ladder, behind the USA. They’ll need to take down at least two out of Serbia, China, and Venezuela to get through. Beating three would seemingly easily secure second spot from here but that’s assuming all goes to plan.
To get near that the Boomers will need Bogut and Mills to be healthy.
From there, and assuming we can progress through Group A, it’s a matter of performing at the right time in the knock-out matches.
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