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.