14-5 Angola (1st quarter) terrible execution.

Doing a little better now 33 to 25

That first quarter was just plain terrible

starting to wish Brian Gorjian would come back. lol

Live, just follow the link.

http://golekpangansekogoogle.blogspot.com/

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?

which link to i click on? there are about 7...

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

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

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

please keep us up to date with scores thank you BeanTown

Australia are getting nailed to the fence. Now even there defence is poor (especially perimeter defence). I will not use the excuse that this our B team. This is the team we brought, even our B team should know how to fill it up a little more. Is it just me or is every offensive set really desparate and laboured? The god awful entry passes are horrific. Still we made the final I guess, I just wish we could score more consistently.

I watched the end of the game against China and it was all miracle shooting under pressure, which just isn't consistent. This team, talent aside, looks like a carbon copy of the 2010 World Champs team.

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.

Near end of the 3rd 66 - 43 Angola.

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.

74-48

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

tghis ought to wake the boys up a bit!

There are just no athletes in this side, no one has a quick first step, or is able to really do anything one-on-one. I get that this is a "b" side but its not a very fun side to watch. Players like Wagstaff, Weigh and Greenwood have added some value to the side but they're pretty "no frills" types of players. Oh well, personally I can only really see Worthington making the cut in our best 12

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.

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.

This is humiliating.

This is Brett Brown at his finest.

Australia lost to Angola. I wonder what the expenditure on their national basketball program is.

I wouldnt stress too much about this, Angola have made the top 16 at the last two WCs, they are no chumps and they had a hot night last night (BTW - they spend plenty on their national program, including paying for their players to stay and play in Angola during the club season).

The idea of this tour was to blood some young players and find guys to complete the team for Europe and then NZ. I think Worthington, Gibson, Crawford and Wagstaff definietly earned a spot, while Schenscher and Dellavedova also put their hand up though not as consistently as the others. So the tour was a success in my book.

In terms of the broader program, we do have a rather serious issue in that our defence relies on packing the paint and is not disruptive, so we are very susceptible to good three point shooting, as evidenced last night. Offensively, our sets are very 'male' ie there is only ever one thing happening at any one time, hence it is very susceptible to good pressure defence. Those things need to be addressed.

I wholeheartedly concur with your above post, paul.
With regards to issues in need of addressing, I would like to add our invariable poor starts.

It seems a habit which is not just apparent with this development squad, but also in the more senior team. being down by 8 to 10 points early on and then having to run a press just to catch up is no way to win games consistently. When we have been torched by hot three point shooting, it is not only our packing the key which is the problem, it is the fact that with a points buffer, opposing players feel more comfortable taking highly speculative shots, because they know that if they miss, it wont hurt the team much and the coach wont instantly bench them. And at international level, if a player is feeling that comfortable about taking a shot, you can bet your house on the outcome, even with a high degree of difficulty. And if they make one they feel like king of the world and keep making them. Then we are forced to chuck up threes just to keep up, but under significantly more pressure.

Please coach Brown, address our poor first quarters.

Well I wouldn't get to worked up over that result!

THe Olympic squad will look much different to that. Throw in some better athletes and bigs and we should be right!

I have to say Delly really impressed me in a couple of games his passing is exceptional!

So as it stands now, if you had to pick the 12 man team for the NZ series Paul/Bean who would you pick?

I watched two of the games. Last nights and the one against China. Australia'a offence is terrible. Passes are at best speculative, at worst turnovers. Entry passes were awful, the interior game is a complete mess. What disturbs me most of all is that due to our defence we are always there, or there abouts but as soon as the opposition pinches a four or five point lead, with our poor execution, it looks almost insurmountable. We don't seem to put anyone away under the Brown system, even ordinary teams tend to hang with us. Boomer teams of yore were able to thrash lesser teams and pinch games with good offensive nights from superior teams. Brown seems to prescribe four parts defence, one part offence. Australian teams, historically, have been good defensively but until now, it was never at the cost of the offence.

OK, here's mine, with Schenscher's spot probably dependent on Maric's availability and fitness:

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

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.

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.

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.

Macdub i agree with you on Delly