Hoops

2011 Stankovic Final Australia v Angola

Beantown, thank you! Finally someone sees the light.
I said that a week ago and people were quick to criticize me for feeling that Delly was on par or better than Gibson.

Oh, I forgot - I'd seriously consider putting Delly in ahead of Gibson. He has looked good every time I have seen him play. He was moving his feet very well on defence last night against Angola, so I don't think he is a risk defensively. Offensively, I think he shows greater ability in running the offence than Gibbo and he also shoots it way better.

I only saw 3 quarters of basketball in the entire Stankovic tournament, but I did think we played some good defence AND offence in the 2nd quarter to get back into it. I think the five on the floor were Wortho, Wagstaff, Crawford, Gibbo and Delly.

I thought the mobility and toughness of Wortho and Wagstaff on defence in that quarter was a standout and the three guards did a good job of pressuring the ball and staying in front of their man.

On offence, Delly did a nice job of feeding Wortho, who had his way with his defender and the ball movement in general was good, leading to a lot of good open shots, including a couple of threes from Delly.

As far as the team to play NZ goes, I am not sure about the availability of everyone. Bogut and Ando are out, but not sure about Jawai and Khazzouh. Are they definitely unavailable? I will assume they are for now.

Ogilvy seems to be back in favour at the moment - what is your basis for putting him in Paul? I haven't heard much of him for awhile now. Why has he not been part of the Boomers camps thus far?

I basically agree with the team Paul has posted above, but I would get Khazzouh in there in a heartbeat if he were available. Schenscher I only want to see in there if Ogilvy or Maric can't play. I just think Big Red is too slow and too soft really.

I might have a go at the depth chart for Paul's squad:

Maric Ogilvy
Nielsen Worthington Wagstaff
Ingles Barlow
Newley Crawford
Mills Martin Gibson

I actually like the idea of starting Nielsen at centre as well and running Wortho at PF, along with Ingles, Newley/ Barlow and Mills also on court. Pretty long and mobile combination that should hold its own on the boards, be difficult to score against in the paint and can get out and run against NZ.

This is Brett Brown at his finest.

Drmic would be the only one on this team Jez, but he didn't really get to play much I don't think.

Delly, Wagstaff and Wortho were the standouts tonight for mine. Crawford and Gibbo solid. Thats about it really.

Gibbo might make it as well as Wortho. I don't personally see the value in duplicating Martin's skillset with Gibbo, but Brown seems to like using them together for defensive pressure. Obviously if Irving plays there will be no room for Gibbo, but I'm not holding my breath for Irving to play for us at the Olympics. If he was serious, he would have been showing a greater interest in the team leading up to Olypmic qualification.

Looks like Drmic is going to get a run.

Pretty embarassing scoreline for the Baby Boomers. The wheels fell off in the second half and its not like Angola are very good.

Pretty disappointed that Brown couldn't get more first choice Boomers out for this tournament (not sure its his fault necessarily tho).

Playing all these young guys didn't really tell us all that much and we have wasted a good chance to get our main guys valuable playing time leading into the NZ qualifiers.

74-48

Both teams playing midget ball now. Boomers running Gibbo, Delly, Greenwood, WEigh Wagstaff. Angola look just as small right now though!

Yeah, D wasn't great a few times in the 3rd. I think some credit is due to that Angolan shooter though. A couple of his threes were contested well but he made them anyway.

Greenwood has got a run in the 3rd, but hasn't really got into it. Judging by Delly's D compared to Greenwood's, he is a step quicker at this stage. Has the edge over Greenwood for now for mine.

Not sure but I think I had a Nate Tomlinson sighting too? Little PG dude I don't recognise.

62-42 Angola ... like it matters now

Wortho just copped an elbow to the head.

Brown went back to Wortho and Wagstaff as bigs. Can see why, with the ball not getting to Schensch enough to do enough damage and the mobility of our defence suffering a bit with him in. LOok much better w WOrtho and Wagstaff.

Wow... pretty much game over. That Angolan dude is just drilling threes - 4 in a row now I think.

LOL, the Angolan defence somehow missed the 7 foot carrot top standing in the lane! More of that please!

Depends what programs you have installed Mystro. I'm using Sopcast, which is usually pretty decent. But since you probably don't want to have to download that, try one of the WMP (Windows MEdia Player) links I reckon.

I also use this website if none of the links on the first one works for you. http://www.myp2p.eu/competition.php?competitionid=&part=sports&discipline=basketball

I tuned in early in the 2nd to see us down by about 18! I though we played well for most of the 2nd to work our way back into it though. Unfortunately, a lot of missed FT's sabotaged our comeback and when Weigh came on to give Wortho a breather late in the 2nd, the Angolan's started getting more good looks inside (Weigh perhaps a little too light and not as wily as Wortho).

Delly has looked good running the show and Gibbo and Crawf have been doing a good job defensively. Wagstaff looking solid too (apart from FTs). The trap has almost worked a few times, but unfortunately the guy who should be ready to pick off the pass has been too hesitant to make the play.

Did Schensch or Nev play in the first quarter? Did Brown decide they were too slow and go with Wortho and Wagstaff after that? What happened there?