Hoops

World Champs: Boomers vs Argentina 30-Aug

Just got around to watching a replay of the Boomers game v Argentina and I don't get why anyone would complain about our performance in this game. Sure we lost, but we played very well for most of the game.

The point at which the Argies finally got a 6 point lead late in the game was on the back of two tough shots from Delfino and Gutierrez. Nothing we could do about those shots. But we fought back and levelled from there with some great baskets from Nielsen and a nice drive with FT's from Mills.

Down 1 with a bit over a minute on the clock, we were very unlucky with Nielsen's 2nd FT rimming out and then a wide open three from Mills doing the same.

Mills then tied it up with a three, only for Prigioni to come out of nowhere and knock down a tough three for a three point lead.

Mills then made 1/2 FTs and Scola made 2/2 from the line after Nielsen left his feet unnecessarily with 9 secs remaining.

That gave them a 4 pt lead, but we didn't give up with Ingles putting in another two and our guys did a great job of forcing a turnover to have a last crack. Gibbo got a good shot and rimmed it out. Another night and that would have been a win to the Boomers.

All in all our defence remains amongst the best in the tournament and our guys showed that WHEN THEY BACK THEMSELVES, cut hard and move the ball, they can score pretty well.

Ingles showed that he can create very well for himself off the dribble, especially if he attacks the basket instead of settling for threes. If he can find some consistency throughout the remainder of this tournament, the Boomers can go deep.

Mills was much better in this game than he has been recently. He still has a tendency to jack up the odd bad shot, but he generally made good decisions on when to shoot and when to kick the ball to a team mate.

Honestly I thought we were in no way outplayed by the Argies, who will be thereabouts at the end of the tournament. The only thing I would change about our performance against Argentina is for our guys to attack the basket more instead of settling for threes, which is not a strength for most of them.

Ingles had too much length for their wings and Newley also looked dangerous when he attacked the basket. If our bigs - especially Maric - then got in position for the dish under the basket, we would have scored a lot of easy points and probably fouled out more than just Gutierrez.

The Boomers need to take a leaf out of the Tall Blacks book.

With only really Penney as a proven International scorer, we can score 84 points against a talented Spanish team.

How? Because our offenses incorporate ball movement; off and on ball screening, hard cuts, ball reversal, kick and penetrate.

Look at Abercrombie scoring 19 against Spain (and you could go back to Vukona scoring 19 against Lithuania), They aren't the most notable scorers at this level, but they get scoring opportunities because of the ball movement and flowing offense that Vucinic runs.

Right on chewie...

Shane Heal to step up and coach the Boomers - are you kidding me? Shane Heal is even lucky to be on the coaching roster if you ask me! Heaven help us if he ever gets his hands on the reigns...

Great game to watch....howeva quite disappointed with BBrown's subs....didnt seem 2 know when to keep players in the game eg before Arg went on their scoring run he took out a hot Joe Ingles and this cost us dearly as we lost our scoring momentum at that particular time in the game.....also quite early in the game BBrown took out PMills just as he was winding up and was breaking people of the dribble and hitting big shots ...it just seems with BBrown he seems to make costly decisions with his rotations at the wrong times.....and this isnt the 1st time ive noticed this when he coaches the Boomers...it might be time for Heal to step up.........im 100% certain if Ingles wasnt taken out of the game at that stage in the game we would all b celebratin a boomers victory.

Can't complain too much against the world no. 1 when you lose by a bucket at the buzzer that rims out after a pretty good look.

Would have been great to snatch an upset win though.

Wow - I dont see why there is so much hate towards the team after todays game?
Our bigs were outplayed, absolutely they were but to suggest we were not trying and are shit is just garbage. Scola was simply superb and was hitting long range shots and inside. He was simply too good for our guys tonight and led his team brilliantly.

I agree our offence at times was stagnant with various players just holding the ball at the top of the key before taking a pull up 3 pointer. When they dropped great - when they started to miss we looked very poor.
Mills showed what he can do when he moves - with and without the ball. His passing was excellent early in the game and he worked very hard to get free and took good open looks or passed the ball well to open players.

Oh well, we had a very good look in the last seconds to get the win and it rimmed out so its hardly all doom and gloom. Lets hope they can make some minor adjustments before our next game and continue to improve. Its a very even group so we could still have a great shot at top 8

Yep - and Angola should always have been expected to defeated Jordan.

We are going to have to beat Germany tonight if we want to finish at least 3rd in our group, and then we get to play Serbia at full strength with the return of both Teodosic and Krstic whcih will be arguably a tougher game that the one against Argentina.

Anyone happen to notice that Angola defeated Jordan by 14.

Holy crap - we had a chance to win this game and really set us up for the rest of the tournament.

We ended up going down 72-74. Joe Ingles led Australia with 22, Patrick Mills 21 and Matt Nielsen 10.

What happened to our bigs in this game?

BA Recap: http://linky.com.au/du90r

Germany upset Serbia in double-OT as well...and the Germans are up next...

if anyone knows an english stream it would be good?

found a stream on channelsurfing.net

can we get any streams up if possible?

A win tonight moves us to first with gemsny just bearing Serbia 69-63. Also means we can still be 2 nd if we loose by less than 5

Goodonya. - my compatriot.
Wonder what the odds are for this game.

Beating them 3 times may help the milieu.
The nerves of those playing at their first WCs was the main reason we played poorly against Jordan
There's an ole saying in Basketball " Getloose. "
Our Captain will see us win agen.

Congratulations to the U18 metro girls from south australia in bringing home the bronze medal. For something that was probably unexpected and all the spice about selections they have done a great job. Well done girls!