Hoops

Boomers v Tall Blacks GM 1 - SPOILER

Pledger is 24.
Abercrombie is 24.
Adams is 18.
Loe is 20/21.
Penney is 30.
Vukona is 29.
Bloxham is 20 (Breakers returning dev. player - PG)
Prewster is 20 (Breakers dev player, 6"5.5 guard who returned from Stephen F.Austin (d1) in USA-Crazy athleticism)

The goal moving forward has to be the 2014 World Champs--Penney will be 33, Vukona 32, Adams will be 21 (and probably in the NBA), Pledger and Abercrombie will be 27 (Abo could have had a season or too in Europe by then). Loe would be 24 and probably would have finished his career at St. Louis.

Then 2016 Olympics..NZ could target that as well.

yeah much like you guys and your Aussie NBA guys not suiting up for the Boomers, frustrating that you can't field your strongest team.
I would happily sacrifice seeing him in a Black Jersey on a regular basis to watch a Kiwi get court time and compete in the NBA.

Adams, Loe and Abercrombie could be a great front court within 5 years for the NZ national team. Would be very imposing and dangerous.

he looked like he was trying Penney's quick release on his first few 3's but when he set his feet and took his time he knocked them down. Looked more dangerous when he put the ball on the floor and drove

That's a cheap shot at the Special Olympics folk. Not necessary.

NZ will never dominate Australia in Basketball, we will hopefully continue to compete with new guys coming through and pull a few upsets off along the way but that's it. We don't have the population to provide the depth required at this level as was evidence the other night, the Boomers whole team can get it done, NZ has 5 guys with a few serviceable backups on the bench at the moment.

In the past it has been the Tallblacks that have been able to put Australia off their game with physicality and a bit of niggle, game 1 Australia tried it and it payed off. Penney and Vukona were the only two who looked really settled, Abercrombie looked rattled all game and never really put his stamp on it despite hitting a few shots.

Completely agree AB4EVA, that is what I was hinting at with my comments about Mills above as well.

I think whoever said Mills was rushing his shots unnnecessarily earlier has a good point. There were definitely a few wide open looks he got where he needed to measure it and make sure. I actually wonder if Mills has conditioned himself to shoot it so fast because, in the NBA, he HAS to or his opponent will have closed him out!

My 2nd thought about Mills shooting is I think that he shoots more threes than even he would like, purely because the Boomers really lack outside shooters and so it falls to him to try to keep opposing defences honest on the perimeter. There were quite a few examples last night when other Boomers passed up a perimeter shot in favour of giving Mills a look.

I'd actually like to see our offence run more pick and rolls for Mills, to get him open 2pt looks at the top of the key. He is a decent 3pt shooter, but its that mid-range pull-up jumper that he is best at. If we ever get Bogut into the side, plenty of 1-5 pick n roll with Mills would work very nicely, because Bogut will set huge screens and be a real threat to score if defenders over commit to defending Patty's shot.

With regard to Vukona, there are clearly a few people on here who haven't watched a lot of NBL in the last couple of years and missed his great leap forward. The guy is a legitimate star for his teams these days. He killed the Boomers in the last series because of his combination of mobility and strength (guess what Wortho was out injured then); he's put up big numbers against quality Euro opposition; he should have been MVP of last season's NBL GF; and he burned the Boomers again last night.

Depending on the opposition I would absolutely start him at the 4 for the Boomers if I could. With Bogut in the middle for us at the Olympics, we really don't need a second, slow big man at the 4 for extra rebounding/ interior D. That's the beauty of Bogut. His ability to dominate the paint will allow us to play a smaller, more mobile group of 4 around him that will be harder for quick (see Spain) teams to exploit.

Paul, totally agree that Petrie needs to get a shot at that mobile 4 spot once he is fully recovered from last season's injury. Would like to see Matt Knight matched up head to head with Baynes too, just to compare footspeed, rebounding and defence.

Jim Dale, fail.

Vukona is Fijian.

Nice!

Interesting call about Mills Anonymous. At this stage of his career I actually think he'd be better suited to playing as a small two guard. He can definitely score, but seems to struggle slightly trying to differentiate between the times to get others involved and when he should take over. This sometimes leads to him taking shots out of the offence, or out of rhythm, leading to the low field goal percentage. It would be interesting to see if he was moved to the two, and just given a licence to score as a first priority, whether or not that would make him a more productive player for us.

Vukona averaged 8.3 pts and 7.6 reb last season and has career averages of 6.2 pts and 6.5 reb in the NBL.

Yeah, he's a superstar.

and the top scorer last season averaged 20 and Vukona was on the same team as the number 2 scorer last season which coincidentally won the title. Vukona has improved with every season in the NBL and that was illustrated last night with his great performance.

travismreid: great post, I agree with your points.

The Boomers continued poor outside shooting is a major concern. It was the same in Turkey last year and doesnt appear to have improved at all.

Considering Newley and Ingles had poor offensive games, it was a surprise to see we had racked up 91 points at the end of the night.

The difference between these two teams is simply depth, and quality of players coming off the bench. The Tall Blacks have the best player in the series in Kirk Penney, but we have superior depth and talent which eventually wears New Zealand down.

Another area of concern is Turkey was our lack of rebounding, but the efforts of Maric, Nielsen and Baynes overcame this problem yesterday. Baynes was particularly impressive in his limited second half minutes. His again has improved out of sight. Nice soft hooks around the basket on offence, and a monster on the defensive boards. He will be a Boomer for a long time to come.

Another to impress was Dellavedova. Calm under pressure, rarely turns the ball over, plays intense defence never giving up on his man, plus he is one of the rare few guards we have at the moment who can knock down an open jump shot!

All in all, not a bad performance from the Boomers, however I'd like to see them play a bit more inside-out basketball as our all of our bigs (Maric, Nielsen, Ogilvy and Baynes) were extremely efficient on the offensive end. Also playing more inside-out basketball may give us a few more open looks from the perimeter to save us from forcing so many shots from out there.

I'm looking forward to Game 2 tomorrow night.

agree Paul, Vukona was also very unlucky to not get Finals MVP last season playing injured.

Bit of friendly Banter lol.
Great to see NBL guys like Worthington and Vukona having a positive impact on the game.

Mills job is to shoot from outside, try and pen to the rim, explore etc He has the license to do that when the Boomer bigs dominate on the boards over the Tall Blacks.


well why did Mills settle for outside shots especially when they weren't dropping?
He was 4/13 from outside the arc, and how many times did he jack a 3 when there was plenty of time on the shotclock?
Vukona = patience and poise
Mills = just keep jacking them and hope you hit a few

and a guess Westlake took the title that year MACDUB lol

An interesting fact about the TB's is that Abercrombie, Webster, Kenny, Penney and Loe all played High School basketball at Westlake Boys High School.

I remember in 2005 or 06 (can't remember), the Westlake Boys High School Basketball team had Abercrombie, Webster, Rob Loe, and two other players (currently one is a Utah Valley St. and the other at Oregon Tech.)

Good win from the Boomers.
Obviously, the team that was going to be able to play the whole 4 quarters were going to be victorious and unfortunately NZL only put together a good half.

Penney was his usual self. Vukona was exceptional, but the TB's need more scoring from Abercrombie (in particular), Pledger and maybe someone like Tait.

The Boomers played great defence all night, and the length and height of the likes of Ingles, Nelwey and Barlow made it tough for Abercrombie to find some rhythm offensively.

If there is one thing the Boomers need to work on, it is the mobility of their 4 man.
I said in a thread before yesterday's game that the TB's game plan was to exploit the lack of mobility of the 4 man, and they did that fairly well.
Vukona did a good job of catching the ball in the high post, and using his quickness to blow past defenders (18p and 12r).
Frank nailed 2 threes, and Loe nailed one simply because the Boomers 4 man doesn't have the confidence to close out shots that far from the basket.
The Boomers don't want to challenge the NZL big men shooting the mid-range jumper simply because they don't want to close out against more athletic players and risk giving up penetration lanes.
Vukona got open on a few pick and pops, as did Anthony, Frank and Pledger.
If these guys can nail shots there is hope.

Anon: Patrick Mills is one win away from the Olympic games
Mika Vukona is one loss away from the Olympic qualifying tournament

I know who I would rather be

yeah same I'd way rather be the NBA guy getting paid big bucks that throws up twice as many shots for 2 more points than the NBL guy who gets paid stuff all and would never make the Boomers according to posters on here, yet put up better numbers in comparison.
Everyone knows the Boomers won the game, you can easily deduce that from the score. I was merely pointing out that the player that everyone on here seems to rate so highly numbers weren't that flash.

Patrick Mills 6/21 FG's 4/13 3's
Mika Vukona 7/11 FG's 1/2 3's

lol

Mika Vukona 18points 12 rebounds 2 assists 36mins
Patrick Mills 20 points 3 rebounds 3 assists 31mins

Mika Vukona>Patrick Mills lol

I thought all of the Boomer Bigs played well

yup that Newly block was on Abercrombie Isaac. Did you see Abercrombie smash the deck after going up for a rebound? Looked like it knocked the shit out of him.

Agree with Mick Dundee on Mills' FG%'s and shot selection. I was cringing every time he would catch and launch under pressure.

One play he took an inbound from the baseline with a full shot clock and immediately launched a 3. The team is so much more effective when he uses his speed to penetrate and dish.

We have the bigs to catch the ball he should be getting it to them.

Agree Phil, Newley was awesome. Huge block, great follow up tip jam and effectively kept Abercrombie out of the game for the most part.
Laughed when Gaze started mocking Casey Frank for jacking up a dud 3 and then he hit 2 in a row lol.
Would have liked Dickel and Frank pulled to the bench as soon as they started embarrassing us with their douche behavior rather than letting that crap play out. Props to Australia on the win

Media clippings:

BA: Boomers secure Game One victory over Tall Blacks

Herald-Sun: Pumped-up Boomers mean business

The Age: Boomers flatten Tall Blacks

NZ Herald: Tall Blacks face uphill task

Atmosphere at the game certainly warmed up as the as the 3rd quarter progressed. Boomers had no match for Penny (although Delly to a great job on him) or Vikona who was in everything. Frank was an idiot, but he was still effective unlike Dickel.

Boomers worked had with all contributing and it looked like being an arm wrestle until Wortho lit up in the third. Newley was spectacular and Maric was dominant all night.

Aussies iced it in the last with an emotional win.

The fights were a distraction. Only negative were monkey noises from some sections of the crowd when certain Aussie players took free throws. Don't need that sort of crap at the basketball.

where was the fight, I just saw heaps of shoving and chest bumping? Dickel is an idiot who acted like a junior. Missed Webster when Penney needed to be rested.
How many wide open 3's did the Boomers miss? Mills found his range eventually but i though he forced it to much.

you guys still think Vukona wouldn't make the Boomers lol?
NZ needed a 3rd scorer down the stretch but Abercrombie was left ineffective by great Boomers Defense. Australia was dominant in the paint rotating their bigs effectively but it was Worthington who got it done. Dickel and Frank were idiots and should be having breakfast with Cory Webster this morning.

Good win - missed it though. Will try and catch friday's game.

Just surprised SirCreate, as up until recently, Marto looked like he was ahead of Gibbo in the pecking order.

Dana, good thing you're planning to watch some Eurobasket. I doubt I'll have time to do that, so I'm glad I didn't fork out $27 for a blacked out Boomers game!

Other than Wortho, who was clearly our MVP, I thought Dellavedova once again played very well. Nielsen was good in the first half before missing a big chunk of the 2nd after his altercation with Dickel (good on him for having Delly's back though!)

Newley didn't shoot well, but did a great job keeping Abercrombie in check and also rebounded like a demon. I thought all our bigs did a good job of exploiting their size advantage offensively, particularly Maric, who had one of his best games in a Boomers uniform thus far.

Mills definitely jacked up too many shots, but in general I think he runs the point reasonably well, because he creates a lot of openings with his speed and ball-handling and doesn't turn the ball over much.

Alexkrad, was just about to ask the same question! Anyone know if Marto is carrying an injury?

Boomers 91-78 full time. Game won in the 3rd quarter when Tall Blacks got suckered into run and gun Wortho ball. Boomers piled on the points while NZ stopped executing effectively once the adrenaline started flowing.

4th quarter basically a non-event, with NZ never really mounting a serious challenge.

Wow, want to see that on ONE later! Newley sprints from the corner to tip jam his own 3pt miss!

Then swats a fast break shot into the 15th row!

Fight Club! Dickel loses it and hammers Dellavedova. Dickel disqualified. Unfortunately, Nielsen overreacted trying to protect his teammate. Hopefully it doesn't cost him a game!

73-58 3 qtr time. That was a fiery quarter, but the Boomers got the best of it, with Wortho showing why he is a regular game winner in the NBL.

The Boomers definitely have the advantage when the game is played at a fast pace. NZ got sucked into the adrenaline and the Boomers made them pay.

Tallblacks look rattled. Worthington playing very well and Boomers showing their superior depth down the stretch. NZ need to go back to what was working earlier but credit to the Boomers pressure defense

agree, Frank is playing like an idiot and needs to sit down and shut up

Adam, fair call on Mills, given he was 3/11 at the time! I think I must not have seen a few of his misses early on as I did not see much of the first 5 mins of the game!

Been waitin for Wortho to step up for the Boomers. He always plays well when he's fired up!

Nice to see Maric going hard against the NZ big men. Couldn't quite work out why Vukona was upset. Looked like Maric was the one that got clobbered going up strong? Could be wrong as pretty grainy feed.

Boomers w a nice lead now 72-58. Casey Frank playing the thug against Wortho, but Wortho too good, too clever.

penney 21 pts, vukona 15pts7 rebs

mills 14pts, maric 11pts 7 reb

boomers 61-55, 4mins to play in the third

Impressed with the young NZ guys like Anthony and Rob Loe. Abercrombie hasn't seen much ball but Penney and Vukona are feeling it offensively.
Still a pretty close game.

I thought that had already happened !

47-45 Boomers HT. Nielsen with some vet play to keep Boomers noses in front, but NZ looking the more assured team for the bulk of that 2nd quarter.

Vukona creating constant problems with his footspeed on our bigs, Penney getting open a lot in that quarter off the back of some nice TB screens.

Haven't seen a boxscore, but Mills has made most shots I've seen him take Adam. He was looking more dangerous in the 1st when the game was up and down, but made an open three and and drew shooting fouls on a couple of drives in the 2nd.

HT team stats just went up. NZ shooting lights out inside the 3pt line. Boomers ahead in every category other than the most important one - shooting! This is becoming an alarmingly common problem. Hopefully some better shooting to come from the Boomers in the 2nd half.

http://www.seeon.tv/view/3932/


not the best but better than being up past midnight

Vukona causes probs again with footspeed. Boomers bigs bite on the pump fake. Mika with the FT makes and then Penney gets free for a tough two to tie it up 32-32.

Down the offensive end, NZ zone causing Boomers to shoot bricks from three.