thanks anon, recommend everyone uses the 'SeeOnTV' link as the others require you to open a betting account (hence credit card, etc).

Ok fair warning people - posts from now on may contain scores! :-)

Go Boomers!

Kirk Penney feeling it early, we may be in trouble with that.

Can you please post scores as the game goes on as some of us have to go sit in the shed known as hillcrest.

24-16 end of 1st qtr. Both teams making shots early, but Boomers bench depth told late in quarter.

Minor correction - 26-18 end of 1st. There was a few secs to go!

Mills looking dangerous early. Boomers size a factor too, with Nielsen scoring inside and Newley scoring on the break.

32-29 Boomers. Frank nails two threes and Vukona with an and 1 to keep NZ close. NZ having to make tougher shots than Boomers generally.

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.

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


not the best but better than being up past midnight

45-43 Boomers, Mills shooting poorly. Boomers still look lost offensively.

Boomers, and this is certainly not just for this game, seem to have no offensive personality. It just seems to be a free for all with Patty Mills shooting a hell of a lot of shots off the dribble under pressure. I really hate Brett Brown basketball. Everybody plays defence, it is a given, but to give up almost entirely on your offence hell, as soon as you get behind it is all over. What I can't stand most is our style almost always allows teams a chance to the finish. We never seem to put teams away. Horrible.

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.

gaze and carfino didnt know they wer bein recorded and gaze is like "i hope were not bein recorded coz i got a" then cut off

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.

Thanx beantown for the commentary.

Beantown, I made the comment about Mills having seen him miss three in a row so jumped the gun a little with my comment, but lucky for me he is 3-11 bad for Australia. He just doesn't seem to get others involved, he either shoots himself or passes off. I would like to see him use dribble penetration with players working off him.

dumbest foul ever
neilsen stood there and pledger jumped on him foul on neilsen

So far this is horrible, and it is getting worse. Australia just have NO IDEA ON OFFENCE.

NZ isn't looking any better IMO - at least you guys can rebound and pass the ball to a guard to bring up the floor

FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Manly Vs Storm II

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

NZ, I would trade the rebounds and the passing for your FG%.

mills 14pts, maric 11pts 7 reb

get om myp2p got great link

penney 21 pts, vukona 15pts7 rebs

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.

What's myp2p's URL now? their eu one got shut down

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

I imagine mika was upset from the elbow on the nz miss the play before. Don't know I it connected at all or not when he fell/flopped.

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

Found my answer : .bz now

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.

As per ususual, my glass half empty approach to supporting a team has me eating humble pie. Boomers looking grand at three quarter time, Mills picking it up, team generating offence from their defence just as they are coached. And everything in balance in the basketball world.

Nz does better fighting than playing ball atm

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!

There is a repercharge (sp?) for teams that don't qualify from regional bids - tbh we have no chance there if Australia qualifies from Oceania

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!

Newley Newley Newley Oi Oi Oi

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.

Hi Beantown. I paid for FIBA Season pass to watch Eurobasket in Lithuania. The Boomers game was restricted due to GEO anyway so I couldn't even watch it through FIBA. (NOT HAPPY). However the link someone put up here worked well enough to watch so cheers to whoever did that.

Just looking at the stats.. couldnt watch the live feed because my internet is capped at the moment..

Good to get the win.

Is there a reason why Damo didn't get a run?

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

Not enough playing time for him

Penny was dominate in the first half but disappeared in the second from the great defense Delly was playing on him, plus the kid just doesnt turn it over.

Gibson snags whatever playing time leftover leaving Damo in the dark I guess

Good win, would have liked to have put them to the sword. We were out by 20 at one point. Offense, still an issue. Mills and Newley both shooting in the high 20's percentage wise isn't good enough especially considering between them they took 32 shots. Still very strong win. Again defence was impeccable.

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.

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

It's good to see our boomers play with passion. I was sitting front row. The energy on D was intense. Solid. The confidence came in the third and it's amazing what can happen when shots start dropping. Best game I've seen the boys play in the last two years. Wortho was a monster. Maric played tough and inspired. Great stuff all round. Newlys play of the day following his shot for the tip in funk! Wtf. And that block was HUGE. Just need to take that confidence into brizzy and get the job done! I believe

Penney had 14 in the second half!! The Boomers did a good job of shutting the NZ offence down to limit his touches in the second part of the third quarter, though the Tall Blacks said that was a self inflicted wound moreso than the Boomers' defence. Prob a bit of both.

It was worst game I saw in my life footy and rugby combine plus wrestling.

Aus Coaching staff hopeless NZ is much better team technical shame that a incindent in 3 decide a game

Captain has a brain not mussels IDIOT

Comentators call this game phisical they do not have idea about that shame that tv pay them for the job.

UTBNB did you watch wrong game (FOOTY) MATE. Do not spend money for the game that you can not understand. EDUCATION YOU NEED

A decent performance by the Boomers, though they still can get a little stagnant on offense sometimes. I don't know why I didn't really consider the mismatch Vukona would pose at the PF spot against bigger, but less mobile players. Also while Mills didn't really dominate, the game plan didn't really seem geared around his game; it was more about exploiting the advantage with the bigs and hitting from the perimeter where possible. Though it was a nice thrill at the end to see Mills cross the shit out of Kenny.

As for the physicality, you have to say Frank was very disappointing for a player who's meant to be a veteran presence in the team. He acted like a total rookie when he lost his cool. As for the Dickel incident ... that was pretty contemptible ... a straight out rugby tackle on Dellavedova.

Just on a side note there sounded like there was a pretty healthy sprinkling of Tall Blacks supporters in the crowd which is kind of disappointing, I mean there should be at least 3,500 Boomers supporters in Melb/Victoria. Clearly the NZ fans took advantage of the general apathy in the Australian public towards this series, abetted by a more or less nonexistent marketing/promotion campaign.

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.

If you've bought fibatv, and it's blacked out by regions try "hot spot shield" and see if you can start the game, then turn off the program. It may work for you (I've used it for us locked services np, it's too slow a proxy to work streaming the whole thing, but if the check is only at the start it works great)

I wonder what Patty Mills' carrer FG% as a boomer is...

If he is going to keeping needing 21 shots to score 20 points we have no chance against any decent team. Hopefully Bogut keeps him in check when he joins the team.

So basketball finally made the national news for the first time in a long time, just a shame it was all about the fighting, everyones going to think our sport is as bad as all the football codes with violence when we aren't:(

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.

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.

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

Our best 18 was just to too good John. Maric in the ruck was just dominate all day, his tap work was all class. Mills crumbing work has come along way in the last 12 months and the goal he kick around his body after the siren was electric. Nelly leading strong out the goal square all game and Newly and Ingles on the wing ran there guts out till the last siren. Worthos spoiling and run outer defense had the smallblacks looking like headless chickens. Free tickets. Money well spent.

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

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.

Watched the delayed telecast. Newley's block was brilliant - watch it again and you see him coasting down court until he realises there's a block opportunity and then he accelerates. I think it was on Abercrombie too?

Mills jacked up too many dodgy shots. Barlow's hair. Dickel was a thug, agreed. Vukona tireless. Penney brilliant. Newley seemed to keep Abercrombie from having a major impact. I liked when Gaze called Fitchett "Frigate". After missing the starting, it took me 2-3 confused quarters of them mentioning Trevor Gleeson before I realised it was because he was one of the commentators...

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.

Saw Vukona hit the ground reasonably hard too.

Thought Baynes looked pretty handy in his time at the end.

I thought all of the Boomer Bigs played well

The aussie bigs shot 21 from 32 from the field. Pretty impressive

I'm confused by the Boomers Offense - a lot of misdirection plays, plenty of pick the picker action but not a lot of execution on any of the picks.

They dont seem to have a focus on pounding the ball inside or getting shooters open for 3's.

Lots of action but not a lot of clear execution which may work against NZ but when they come to the Olympics, it could be a different story.

Worthington was my MVP - played smart and shot very well. Good D on Vukona in the 2nd half when Nielsen was in foul trouble. Delly was solid and will be better by the time Olympics come around.

Weird rotations between Maric, Ogilvy & Baynes but all played well in their minutes. Why did Ogilvy start the 2nd half? I think he could be a good 4 man beside Bogut, but does struggle to defend the pick'n'roll.

Ingles was quiet, Mills shot too many shots and his selection was poor, Newley didn't really get into the game but what a sequence with the tip dunk & block!!!

I'd pay to see Kirk Penney play anyday, anywhere, anyhow!!!

So many things I want to say, but I'll be typing all day, so I'll just settle for this.

That was one of the most enjoyable matches I can remember witnessing. The intensity from both teams was fantastic and was wholly appropriate for a match in which the stakes were so high.

ab4eva - crowd seemed to be into it as well, for both teams.

Rod - I think Ogilvy started the second half because Maric had picked up a few fouls?

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

Mika Vukona>Patrick Mills lol

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

lol

It was an amazing game of basketball. I have been watching a lot of the Eurobasket and it was not a step down from that level (except Spain), and it was clearly a step up on the FIBA Americas which is also happening on the moment (except Argentina).

I should add, I hope the teams can keep it up for the next two games. Ideally NZ in overtime on Friday and Australia put on another big run, this time in the fourth quarter to seal the win on Sunday!

Good to see us get the win.
Are Mills and Newley really that bad at shooting 3s?
Newley's action is ugly at best. Not surprised at all he keeps missing.
Mills has a good action, but he just doesn't take his time with it. The amount of times he was wide open and should have knocked it down. He has a catch and shoot in the one motion. New Zealand basically allowed him to shoot. He put up 13 and only made 4. Probably forgiveable if you had as much pressure as Penney did, but not when wide open every time. isn't he more of a penetrate and score/dish player anyway? If you aren't making the shots, do something different. Most players given as much room as him would have scored more than 20. Penney was in a whole other league compared to Mills last night.

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.

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.

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.)

and a guess Westlake took the title that year MACDUB lol

I would love to see Petrie get a chance internationally for that reason Macdub. I also think Matt Knight would be a good option too. We need someon who can replace Nielsen's hustle and bring a bit of toughness and mobility.

Wortho was very good last night I must say, prob our best, but he struggles to match Vukona's toughness. Mika smashed him physcailly a couple of times.

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

Mystro, not everyone on here rates him beyond what's reasonable - rough view I took from this thread was that Mills jacked up shots. Yeah, Vukona played a great game and might get a little bit more discussion if there were more Kiwis on here, but making a comparison like that is just inviting others to get their back up.

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

He had a whole lot of game last night!!

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

Three point shooting was totally shithouse from both players,they can do better than that.Maric was not to be seen much,we expect better from a top Euroleague player.The bravado was pure gold and it really killed to see Bogut not playing.Lets go boys one more game and we are off to the olympics1

Maric wasn't that bad. You must've blinked for one of his huge dunks too...

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.

travismreid: great post, I agree with your points.

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.

As an aside when was the last time Australian basketball was on the front of a prominent news site? http://www.theage.com.au/ (this was as of about 3.30 or so today)

Admittedly it's probably there because of the melees but still ...
Perhaps an unintended silver lining in the scuffles is the publicity it has generated ...

Anon, you need to watch more international basketball, Vukona has proven he can play against the top teams. 19p on 8/12, 9r, 5s and 3a v Lithuania, 15p on 6/7, 6r, 5a v France.

Pretty much every coach who came up against NZ at the WCs talked about Penney and Vukona as two stars.

That was nothing short of an entertaining match to watch. I loved the intensity of our defense and the passion! A couple of bifs here and there, some brilliance by Newley, our bigs played decently and Penney had me shouting 'FREAK' at the TV.

Gaze, i have to admit, i like his commentary for Boomers games.

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.

Footage of Newleys tip jam and block.

Nice!

Boomer to big and too strong. They played with niggle and the TBs did not react well.. There were some bad calls missed on cheap shots on TBs.

Frankenstien eblowed Vukuno in the head... which he took umbridge too.. which lead to the first little scuffle.

Second one... he got a little carried away.. Dickle.. But he was going for the ball.

If you listened to the Boomers coach before the game it was like he had primed his team for a physical battle.

Cheap shot on Penny which should have been a tech foul as well.

Should have thrown Pero Cameron in there for some size and to throw the aussies around a bit.

Vukono has really developed his offensive game. Watching him in the Breakers last year.. he is a defensive powerhouse with plenty of heart. Last night he was a threat with the ball in hand, knocking down shots.

Overall Boomers are a bigger, more phtsical side and will win this series. Not not to watch though. Wait till NZ get these young big men involved. The advantage big polynesians have over big white guys.. is that they are not unco.. they are quick and co-ordinated. Jus thope Kirk can stick around long enough for the two bign teenager kids to get into the team and dominate. Then we will see who will dish out the niggle!

A bit of a reality check on Mills. I've collated his stats for the six games he has played for the Boomers this year, three in London, two in Spain and Wednesday. I've chosen to treat the first game against Spain as an outlier as he had a tough time against a stacked team and we were without Newley and Maric. I think that gives a fairer indication of what Mills' production has been/is likely to be for the next two games.

17.6ppg
2.8/6.0 2fg (46.7%)
3.2/9.4 3fg (34.0%)
6.0/15.4 tfg (39.0%)
2.4/2.8 ft (85.7%)
2.0 rbs
2.0 ass
3.8 to
26 mins

Are these numbers really that bad? Are we expecting too much from a player who has just turned 23? Penny is almost 31 and has virtually every possession run for him. Personally as a coach if I were handed those numbers before the game, I would take them.

The other thing to consider is that should we qualify, Bogut and Andersen will be in the squad, and one would imagine that the onus on Mills to score would be lifted somewhat. His role will change and with that perhaps also his efficiency.

Anonymous. Vukona would out box Frankenstien any day. He is a Samoan lion.

Technical foul.. unsportingly conduct... I don't profess to be a referee.. nor a good speller.

The ugly physical tactics worked. Aus will prob win tomorrow night and head to Olympics. They won't do jack there.

Over the next 10 years NZ will dominate Aus in B Ball. We have a converyer belt of talent yet to be harnessed in South Auckland. Think Vukona with a nother foot of height.. Steven Adams and Isaac Fotu.

Jim Dale, fail.

Vukona is Fijian.

Surely you can get past that to take his point. Vukona is an incredible rebounder, pound for pound.

ab4eva, I think Penney excelled in that game while being held far more tightly. As someone else has said, Mills got open looks while Penney flashes up some miraculous attempts - his ability is unrivalled in the two countries, IMO. I don't want to detract from your Mills numbers as they are of course respectable, just the note about Penney having plays run for him.

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.

Perhaps I have come across not exactly as I intended.

I am not trying to say that Penny = Mills or
Penny < Mills. I actually agree with you Isaac, that Penny is clearly the finest player of either country, with the exception of Bogut.

I feel that there are some Mills detractors that have unreasonable expectations on a young player who is in the NBA, especially when they see another player outperform him, who is not.

Mills is already a fine player who has, I believe, even better years ahead of him. He is learning the craft of running the team, but at the same time has had to assume the mantle of Go-To-Guy. And the one guy that the team should be built around, Bogut, has yet to suit up for the Boomers in the three years since Brett Brown took the reins. It does not make for an ideal situation when the team is searching for their identity, each player unsure of where they fit in. It has made for inconsistency and I feel that the team is only now starting to gel.

Compare that to NZ. Every player is supremely aware of their role in the team and have been for some time. And Penny is in peak physical condition and has a very experienced head.

I just think it takes time. Give Mills and the rest of the Boomers a few more years and they could be anything.

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

Cheers, Beantown. I, too, agree with your comments above. Can you feel the love here on Hoops this evening?

Good to see boomers being physical though. It's been an important part to our game, and one of our advantages against teams like USA, will need it come olympics

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.

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.

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

Anon Steve Adams is the real deal and if he keeps on improving like he has been (and keeps his head on straight) he should make the NBA in the next few years. Already has signed with a good college in Pittsburgh.
I just watched the game last night and though Mills took mostly good shots but as been pointed out rushed them. The ones he made he seemed to take is time more.

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

Anon,

the core of the team you guys have is gettng very old.

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

Call me a cynic, but if Adams does make it to the NBA, which seems likely, I feel he will become "mysteriously injured" during International seasons and the number of times he actually suits up for the Tall Blacks will be limited. They'd almost be better off if he doesn't make it.

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.

From Taipans website today:

http://www.nbl.com.au/taipans1/news/article/2011/september/aron-baynes-called-into-boomers-basketball-squad/

I could have sworn that was him playing on Wednesday night ;)

Kirk is 30, turning 31 on the 28th of November. I should know he was at my 5th birthday party at Georgie Pie. He is like a fine wine an will only get better with age. Nah but seriosuly if he overlaps with Adams (if Adams ever dons the black singlet?) and the other big kid. You would have two scoring options.. inside and out.

The kiwi kid who came on and is like 19, and scored well in the under 19s. Man he looks hellishy un-athletic. Maybe he hasn't grown into his body yet? Or just needs to do some weights? But looked very slow. And was a defensive liability.

We don't have any garnets on the go.. but we have islanders galore. And they are amazing athletes. If we can get more of the top islanders to play b ball and not rugby or league.. look out.

Aus should harness your indigenous people. Mills is right? Aborigines are amazing athletes too. Different body make up to islanders. Leaner, faster... where as islanders are powerful and strong. Kurtly Beale in rugby, don't watch AFL but there look to be some awesome athletes in there.. get them playing B Ball and the game will be better for it.

Is bs these games are not on live.

Kirk Penney is an amazing athlete, great guy and very generous he gave me the sweetest GI Joe at Georgie Pie back in 85. Seriously such a humble good guy. I remember having to go to cricket practise at the nets on a fri night and being pissed off at having to be there. Kirk would be down on the court by himself just shooting. There when we got there and there when we left. Guy is awesome.

wow wheres the love for maric??

he destroyed nz.

was unstoppable.

dale calm down. nz will not dominate australia. i have alot of respect for how well the tall-blacks have done, its the 2nd sport in a small country that has taken it to some of the best nations around the world. penney will be an irreplacable player. there are some great young kids coming up for nz. i hope to see nz push australia in the future. i will always cheer on nz and lithuania when not against the boomers as they will always be close to my heart.

Dont forget Pledger, he is turning into a pretty good player. He was a monster defensively tonight, and his battle with Maric was great to watch.

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.