Linkseys?

There may be a few omissions from the Boomers team...

No Wortho - shoulder & Neilsen - back.

Thanks for the update

http://www.lshunter.tv/index.php?option=com_lsh&view=lsh&event_id=61757&tid=206011&channel=0&tmpl=component&layout=popup&Itemid=327

Live steam etc posted above

Maric is just too strong

Barlow also playing well today, as is Penney.

Boomers lead 39-37 with 3min to go in 2nd.

Maric is a monster...

Boomers up 45-41 at the main break.

AUS: Maric 15, Barlow 14, Mills 8, Ogilvy 6
NZ: Penney 15, Frank & Tait 7, Vukona 5 (Abercrombie 2)

Maric has been a mountain in the paint, and 6/6 from the field and 3/5 from the line, with 3 rebounds and drawing 5 fouls.

Boomers up 88-64 with 3min to go in the game...Maric has 27 points! Penney with 25.

stats?

http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/151/03/89/63/46EGRInGa60cA/

Boomers win 92-68...

AUS: Maric 27 & 8, Barlow 17, Mills 14, Baynes 12, Ingles 10

NZ: Penney 25, Vukona 10

Maric was a beast and Mills found his range. NZ were average at best apart from Penney.

BA: Boomers sweep NZ to claim FIBA Oceania Champs

The Age: Boomers sweep Oceania basketball series

NZ should offer Penney to nationalise as an Australian. Only player who can consistently score for NZ and is better than Newley.

Will never happen but can only dream!!

Congratulations must go to Brett Brown and the Boomers. If you had said before the series that Australia would sweep NZ by double figures in every game you would have taken that happily. So despite some niggles it was a very good team performance by the Boomers. Well done lads.

Agreed Adam, I was very happy with the way the Boomers took care of business against a very capable Kiwi team in this series. So different to when we split our two game series with them for the World Champs qualifiers a couple of years back.

I feel like this team is starting to show us the way it needs to play to be successful:
- Strong defence, based on good interior size and pressure on the passing lanes from a lot of long perimeter players
- Quick hitting transition offence that doesn't give the defence a chance to set up.
- If forced into half court offence, post ups for Maric and Nielsen (Bogut when playing) and getting Newley and Ingles open for hard drives to the basket.

A couple of other things I think would really help this team is to encourage guys like Mills, Barlow and Ingles to put the ball on the floor and look to pull up for mid-range shots rather than shooting threes or trying to get all the way to the rack. I think those guys have all shown they are much better shooters from mid-range. Ingles and Barlow have the height to shoot over most people they play against and if you watched Mills with the Trailblazers last season, he was at his best creating open mid-range looks for himself using screens at the top of the key.

Other than that, Maric has found his intl legs and is showing us why he has been such a force in the Euroleague; and Dellavedova has emerged as a great combo guard for this team. The kid has shown poise beyond his years and relentless intensity in every game.

Re: Abercrombie overated

Check out his stats from the last WC's against teams better than the Boomers. Sure in that series he didn't make an impact, a lot of the Tallblacks didn't and that was more to do with the Boomers defense than anything else. Game 2 the Boomers put the best defense I have ever seen on Penney for the whole game (Spain and Italy etc haven't kept him that quiet).

Instead of saying the opposition was crap, how about patting the Boomers on the back for a job well done?

I think Abercrombie sometimes struggles for opportunities when Penney is out there with him. The team seemed to barely look for him at points. This season with the Breakers will be a good chance to see if Penney was a strong influence on his game.

Abercrombie is designed to be a wing player (aka 3-spot), but Penney is usually assigned to the 3 with Abercrombie playing the SG role.

Odd part is, Penney starts baseline on one of the wings, then cuts through and takes his shots from the top of the key. I understand that it gives him better position to get screens and pick-n-pop but essentially that puts Abercrombie out of good position on most offensive plays.

Those two games in Adelaide v Breakers where Abercrombie gets 20pts or so, all involved him playing the baseline. That was when Penney was off the floor.

I find it funny that a guy like Penney who plays like a pure SG, fills the SF spot.

Mills found his range? lol... 2/8 3PM, yeah...

Anyways, being at the game, it was probably one of the most boring games I've seen in a LONG time... Just bang it inside and score over and over again, was a bit tedious... didn't help that we had the worst announcer ever... The crowd really struggled to get into it, which just made it that much more dull...

Glad we one, and the guys DID really dominate at time, but the Breakers, sorry, Tall Blacks, just weren't up to it... You know when Penney misses two FTs in a row and then barely clangs the front of the ring on a shot attempt, that they're in poor form...

Marty, especially when the Tall Blacks are pretty weak at guard besides Penney and Abercrombie. Wonder if it was a late adjustment to Webster being absent?

I think Abercrombie's lack of scoring was attributed to a combination of the Boomers good defence and his own reluctance to create shots/take over and be aggressive.

Boomers play great defence on him all series.

But, he can be passive at times and looks unwilling to make a play or demand the ball and go to work.

He took just 16 shots all series; compare that with Mills who took that 21 in Game 1 alone.

I think the passiveness by Abo is because of:
-The presence of Penney: I think he wasn't taking more shots and been more aggressive because he was worried that he would take shots away from Penney and take him out of offensive sync.
-The Youth factor: As he gets older, he is going to become more comfortable becoming a legit scoring option and he will be more of a 'ball-hog', which is only good for the TB's

Tall Blacks now get to look forward to and prepare for a knockout competition which will include, at least, the runners-up at last year's WCs, Turkey.

Maric didn't impress me in the first 2 games but damn he tore it up last night!

XY - will be a tough qualification series that in all reality will probably boast Turkey - but more importantly - all the teams that don't qualify for London from the QF stages of Eurobasket as only 2 can make it.

Tallblacks are swimming against the tide to get to London

The 12-team qualification tournament prior to the Olympics is going to be really tough. Already qualified for the tournament aside from New Zealand are;

- Angola
- Nigeria
- Dominican Republic
- Puerto Rico
- Venezuela

Four teams (those that finish 3rd to 6th) from the Eurobasket tournament will join them. It's not decided yet of course, but we're talking the likes of Lithuania, Greece, Russia, Serbia etc. They are all renowned world basketball powerhouses.

I was surprised to hear Mark Dickel say that he thought the 2011 Tall Blacks could be the 'best ever'. Now I know he was talking it up, but come on. No Pero Cameron, no Dillon Boucher, no Phill Jones, no Craig Bradshaw, no Paul Henare. They had guys in their team that can’t even crack the NBL.

So in summary, it is clear that while the Tall Blacks certainly boast the best player in Kirk Penney, our superior talent and depth was far too much for them to overcome in the end.

I can’t see the Tall Black gaining on the three spots on offer in the qualifying tournament next year.

Teams who have qualified for London 2012 so far:

1. Great Britain (Host Country)
2. United States ( 2010 World Champion)
3. Tunisia (2011 FIBA Africa Champion)
4. Australia (2011 FIBA Oceania Champion)
5. Brazil (Finalist, FIBA Americas)
6. Argentina (Finalist, FIBA Americas)

That leaves 6 spots left that are broken down as follows:

2 - FIBA Europe
1 - FIBA Asia
3 - FIBA Olympic Qualification Tournament (2 - 8 Jul 2012)

"Wow something positive about the Boomers just came out of Adam's mouth! "

I know, anon, it is unusual. Credit where credit is due though. Sure I would have preferred that they built their victories throughout the game rather than winning each game by having one impressive quarter, but nonetheless a very good series by the Boomers. Now I'm off to the thread about whether or not Patty Mills is bad for the Boomers.

Snapped.a few photos during game 3

http://mrfooji.zenfolio.com/p26856561