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Australia vs Kazakhstan |
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|---|---|---|
FIBA World Cup qualifier, Round 2. Time: Fulltime |
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| Bendigo Arena, Bendigo, Victoria | ||
| Australia | Kazakhstan | |
| 94 | SCORE | 41 |
| 22 | Q1 | 6 |
| 19 | Q2 | 13 |
| 24 | Q3 | 15 |
| 29 | Q4 | 7 |
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The Australian Boomers can all but confirm their spot in the Basketball World Cup when they take on a desperate Kazakhstan in Bendigo. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7pm (AEST).
Australia came out with a commanding victory in their last start over Qatar, eventually cruising to a 52-point victory.
Their defence was fantastic from the outset, and they simply did what was required on the offensive end of the court, kicking away from a brave, yet poor Qatar team with ease on the road.
The biggest problem for the Boomers here will be that they have flown 14 hours back from Doha and have just two days to recover.
Of course, Kazakhstan will be in a similar position, flying to Australia after a shock loss at home to Japan in their last game.
Coming into the second round of qualifiers, the Kazakhs should have been able to increase their advantage on Japan and potentially even move ahead of the Philippines on the ladder, with the top three teams guaranteed a spot in the next round of qualification.
Instead, they shot bricks all night long and eventually ended up losing by 15 points to the Japanese team, who kept their own World Cup qualification dream alive.
Despite there still being four games to play after this game, the Boomers can all but book their spot here. They sit on 13 points, with the fourth-placed Japan unlikely to beat a physical Iran team. It would mean their lead increases to four points, and with four games to go, the maximum turnaround per game is just a point, making it almost impossible for them to be knocked out.
The Boomers have made one change to their successful squad from the Qatar trip, with Chris Goulding returning from his suspension to replace Jesse Wagstaff.
The return of Goulding gives Australia what should be far too much firepower for Kazakhstan to deal with. Goulding joins Nathan Sobey, Kevin Lisch, Mitch Norton, Jason Cadee and Mitch McCarron in the back court to create a combination which should have a field day setting up Nick Kay, Daniel Johnson and Matt Hodgson in the paint.
If Kazakhstan are to be competitive, it’ll be down to Rustam Yergali to find a way to increase scoring and hang with the Aussies.
Prediction
There is almost no way the Boomers will lose this game at home. The only question is by how much.
Boomers by 27.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this World Cup qualifier from 7pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.
Tip-off: 7pm (AEST)
Venue: Bendigo Stadium, Bendigo
TV: Live, Fox Sports
Online: Live, Foxtel app, Foxtel now
Betting: Australia $1.01, Kazakhstan $34
Referees: Intae Hwang (Korea), Jong Kuk Kim (Korea), Imran Ali Baig (India)
Australia (expected)
Point guard: Kevin Lisch
Shooting guard: Chris Goulding
Small forward: Todd Blanchfield
Power forward: Nick Kay
Centre: Angus Brandt
Bench: Jason Cadee, Mitch Norton, Mitch McCarron, Matt Hodgson, Anthony Drmic, Daniel Johnson, Nathan Sobey
Kazakhstan (expected)
Point guard: Azim Gagodkin
Shooting guard: Rustam Yergali
Small forward: Maxim Marchuk
Power forward: Anton Bykov
Centre: Alexandr Zhigulin
Bench: Denis Degtyarev, Shaim Kuanov, Nikolay Bazhin, Vadim Chsherbak, Rustam Murzagaliyev, Askar Maidekin, Dmitriy Gavrilov
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