Should be a great game. I think our guards & wings can hold up their end for the tournament. I'm more concerned about how our bigs will fair from game to game. Being able to cover shooting bigs was an issue in the warm up games so hopefully we're able to cover those guys consistantly

On paper we should take care of Slovenia, but our early tournament hiccups of the past leave me a little worried, as well as our inconsistent pre tournament.

Prediction - trail at the half but get it together and get the job done by 10

The key to making it in these tournaments is winning early, because of course everyone is going to get better as the competition continues. And Aus is generally bad at that. Terrible organization by BA not organising a single matchup with one of the elite international teams in those warmup games. For that reason this is a must win. We are better than Slovenia...their best player is just better than ours. With proper coaching and everyone playing their roles we should win by 10 or 15...but what are the chances of that?

Should win by 10 or 15.

Geez Mick.

It will be real close. People are underestimating Slovenia I believe. They have Goran plus a host of others who play in high level Euro leagues.

That statement had the caveat "with proper coaching and everyone playing their roles"...so in actuality I think Slovenia will win by 10 - 15.

We have too many mental midgets and guys who don't play to their potential in the green and gold. Slovenia have a couple of dead eye assassins. We have not a single guy who looks like he wants to go out their and dominate his matchup. Slovenia has several.

I'm sounding like Skip Bayless or some moron talking in ambiguities and intangibles but it's a pretty big issue for us, along with the outside shooting, and I think the two are marginally related...

Im not sure how we're better on paper than Slovenia, we have an inexperienced team and they have plenty of hardened internqtional veterans.

They have a depleted frontcourt though and we need to exploit that because their guards are going to be very hard to disript.

Nice write up for BA Paul too!

Agree - we need to own them in the paint in this game. If we can slow their guards down, then that will also go a long way...

Thanks mate. Anything can happen in first games of the tourny, as we've already seen. Let's hope Slovenia have a stinker in the first quarter!

Nice aggressive start from Jingles.

That's what we need from Ryan. Glad to see he wasn't tentative with that shot at all.

Our defense has been pretty terrible so far. We're letting the guards get everything they want. And Andersen is way too slow to cover anybody out there.

Slovenia has been slick and efficient on offense. Need to be more disruptive.

Need to make some defensive changes pretty quick

We finally had someone step up and stop an inside drive from one of the guards. Only took 8 and a half minutes.

19 points is decent for the first quarter, but giving up 27 is way too many.

Yet again, Andersen continues to be absolutely pathetic as soon as the tournament proper comes along. He'll have one decent game where he scores like 12 points and everyone will think he should be selected automatically for the next tournament afterwards.

Brock motum gives us so much more than andersen does on the court. Gibson needs to take that wide open shot though if he's out there.
My god Goran is on fire.

Much better second quarter. We're a couple of missed Jingles free throws and a couple of lucky threes away from having this thing tied up.

Absolutely, I'll take 6 points.

Great to be within a couple of baskets.

Jingles hits some FT's. Baynes a moment more disipline (it was a flop, but it was dumb from Baynes). A couple less BS 3's (well defended one in the corner and Dragic's bank 3 come to mind).

We're right there and you'd have to think that they will cool at least a little.

Baynes is playing well. he needs to get the ball more. We still struggle to get the ball inside. Good second quarter though. Australia really stepped up the intensity. Gibson played well, I was surprised seeing him on so early but he really kept that run going. He did well getting the ball inside to Motum.

Down six is great considering how much Slovenia controlled the game.

We have to find a way to stop that middle penetration or we're dead. The key to the run was getting up and in the lanes, if we can stop them actually getting into their stuff we can get them.

Oh yeah, and getting the ball inside to Baynes a few more times on roll-outs wouldn't hurt my feelings either!

Both teams pretty evenly matched and playing very good basketball. Australia's occassional turnover were punished and poor return from the foul line.

A whole lot of WTF going on our there for our offense in the 3rd quarter here. Great start to draw a bunch of fouls on them early... then what?

Lemanis wasted a great chance to throw a bench team on for a few minutes when G Dragic was up, continue the intensity of our starters and give them a blow to come back in with more of the same.

As it was Slovenia were able to wrest control of the tempo back and ease away. If this is a battle of starters I think we're going to lose, we've got to play at a higher intensity than them and that needs rotations.

Frustrating that Slovenia go to 4-guards, in foul trouble, and we can't get the ball inside and take advantage.

We have stretches of good defense, but Slovenia stay patient and the lapses keep coming and they are good enough to convert.

Felt that was a lost opportunity in the third quarter. Good play to get within 1, get Slovenia in foul trouble....then nothing.....

You don't understand because you're a fool.

Motum does a lot more right than he does wrong. Consistent effort.

Good showing my Motum and Baynes, along with some good stretches offensively. Too many periods of stagnant offense in the second half though. Shame that our opening game is against one of the strongest teams in the group.

Geez that better just be a cramp.

****

Tough game - Slovenia came to play! Dragic was on fire and their back court exposed us badly.

Baynes better not be injured or Australia's tournament could be over prematurely.

Game recap now up on PnR:

2014 FIBA World Cup: Dragic leads Slovenia to win over Boomers

NBA star Goran Dragic propelled a red-hot Slovenia to a 2014 FIBA World Cup 90-80 opening win over Australia in Gran Canaria, Spain

Many would argue that Goorjian and Brown never got the best out of the Boomers...

Australia just ran into a team that has played themselves into some form. Plenty of time to regroup.

Agree Mystro. Watching Slovenia and now Lithuania, they both run the PnR so well.

Tough loss, ran into a hot shooting Slovenia with Goran Dragic dominating our slower guards, thought maybe Baynes couldve got some more touches? seemed like every time he got it something happened.

"Many would argue that Goorjian and Brown never got the best out of the Boomers..."

Spot on LC, the Boomers had identity issues in both those coaches' first tournament, and while they improved after that they never reached the heights.

Unfortunately I think Lemanis and Co are using this tournament as much as preparation for Rio, which I understand with Mills and Bogut out but I don't really like it.

As it's turned out our side of the draw is relatively weak and there is a 4th place their for the grabs.

Coaching, coaching, coaching...

so we miss the tall Goorjian after we chopped him down..

Andersen should NOT be starting or playing many minutes, absolutely woeful performance. but terrible coaching, how badly does he have to play before Lemanis decides to go for a lineup change?

Boomers didn't take advantage of Motum and Baynes inside near enough, and Australia shot the ball well from 3 they clearly needed to do a better job of getting shooters open and allow them to shoot, the Boomers should've brought on Goulding and Broekhoff together to let them shoot from the wings and actually learn how to get them the ball,

Boomers should run a line up of
Delly, (29 mins) (Gibson (7 mins)
Goulding, (17 mins)
Broelhoff, (18 mins) Newley (20 mins)
Ingles, (30 mins)
Motum, (27 mins) Bairstow (16 mins)
Baynes(29 mins) Andersen (8 mins)

In the +/- Andersen and Exum unsurprisingly the worst combining for -22

Lemanis wasn't at the Breakers last year. He won 3 NBL titles in a row and was Brett Browns Assistant Coach of the Boomers.

I actually thought Motum, but also Bairstow was also underplayed. Bairstow helped stop the rot through his defense in the first quarter and never returned as Lemanis tried to ride his vets.

Andersen has a role, but for mine Motum and Bairstow should be taking some of the minutes he played in this game. It does however depend on match ups though as well.

Korea love to shoot from range, but are nowhere near the level Slovenia is at.

Slovenia deserve credit as they played really well and were clearly the better team on the night.

If we cannot defend the pick and roll better, we have no chance against Lithuania who are just as good at it as Slovenia if not better.

Agree LC, Andersen should get more mins in games against opponents we are very likely to beat such as Korea and Mexico to allow Baynes to rest a bit, but the games against tough opposition such as Slovenia, Lithuania and any opponent Boomers face (if they advance, that still an if) Andersen mins should be greatly restricted and those mins should be provided to Motum and Bairstow.

Exum not getting a lot of love on twitter. He is likely to be a talented player but he needs to put in a great deal of handwork to get there and he still looks 2-3 years away from making serious contributions at Pro level.

hardwork (above) but also needs to put in handwork to work on his dribble.

Exum played 10 mins anon,

As someone mentioned in another thread, Boomers really could've used Damian Martin in this game, to slow Dragic down, much faster than Delly on D and as average as his offence is it couldn't be as bad as Exums.

Geez, A loss we were hoping not to have but always had potential and everyone has killed 6 players and the coaching staff!

I see the KEEP CALM AND SUPPORT THE BOOMERS slogan got burned at the first time out!

I am not concerned if they boomers lost but played well but they overplayed Andersen far too many mins, couldn't guard the Pick N roll, didn't utilise Motum or Bairstow enough, and shot well from 3 but didn't give the Boomers best shooters Broekhoff or Goulding enough (or any) looks.

From twitter:
In SLO win vs. AUS, Goran & Zoran Dragic combined for 31 points in 36 minutes. Aussie NBA guards Dellavedova & Exum scored 3 in 40 minutes.

It was not Delly's best game, but he was no bad either. He had 5 assists. For mine, Delly only needs to hit an open shot - his job is to run the team and set up others.

While we had periods on offense where we stagnated, I would argue it was at the other end where Australia lost the game. Slovenia's guards were quicker and their offense and roles within it were far more clear. They ran PnR's all game and we got killed on the drive or the kick out for the open look. We need to defend that better.

one of the troubling realities of basketball is that there seems to be an unwritten law that the amount of contact your allowed to make on a player is relative to their height.

ie, 6'3 dragic is almost untouchable as will be america's legion of guards , while bigs like baynes , motum etc will be manhandled on almost every possession and only get the bare minimum of fouls go their way to make it seem honest. it's not something solely limited to australia's bigs or just this level of basketball. but its frustrating and will hurt us if that game is any indication of how teams will be allowed to wrestle or step into our bigs while they are moving.

slovenia's team has been playing together a lot longer than this boomers group.

only anderson , ingles and newley would have spent close to as much time together as a lot of other teams here ie slovenia.

The starting lineup up and the poor rebounding effort is what really cost us. The amount of times there was a fumbled rebound attempt resulting in an offensive rebound for Slovenia really annoyed me. I'm not sure what we're doing starting Baynes and Anderson together. Instead of Anderson i'd rather see Motum and Bairstow a lot more. I think mistakes were made with selections and rotations.
But at least it was an improvement on our last meeting!

I still scratch my head on why Gibson was chosen over Martin. He offers nothing to the team that they don't already have. Much as Broekoff made the team on the back of his 3pt shooting , Martin should of made the team solely on his defensive merits.

Locking down Dragic, even briefly, would of made them change their game plan. Slovenia just looked to comfortable running their game.

anderson's shooting was pretty sharp and he is a weapon for us. he was manhandled pretty often by that slovenian team.

i agree that he should be rotated much more for motum who is maturing rapidly on this team and bairstow offers a lot too.

i dont think anderson deserves a lot of the crap he is copping about his performances

Still nothing on the NBL site about this game. Should that be surprising?

Was Impressed with Broekhoff and Motum.
Exum is there for experience yes he is a top 5 pick but the reality is he is not ready.
Hope Baynes doesn't get a serious injury because Jawai is not contributing.

A call on Jawai should have been made earlier. He should have been sent home and replaced in the Euro warm up series.

I have noticed on here how Dellavedova escapes the blame no matter how poorly he plays.

1-7 and 5 TOs for an NBA PG is horrid and he should be accountable. And 5 assists means nothing when your turning it over equally as much.

I would be concerned about Exum if I was the Jazz. Potential is one thing but not been anywhere near the level of play is another. He has big issues in his game IMO

"The starting lineup up and the poor rebounding effort is what really cost us. The amount of times there was a fumbled rebound attempt resulting in an offensive rebound for Slovenia really annoyed me. I'm not sure what we're doing starting Baynes and Anderson together. Instead of Anderson i'd rather see Motum and Bairstow a lot more. I think mistakes were made with selections and rotations.
But at least it was an improvement on our last meeting!"

Couldn't agree more, the amount of fumbles we had and missed rebounds really cost us, we played scared and didn't want to go for the ball!

Exum was -9 in his 10 minutes. Remove that block of minutes and it is just a 1 point game with a quarter to play. ;-)

Delly might have gone just 1/7 with 5 turnovers, but he ran the team much better than anyone else can. That is the way Delly plays. He had a +/- of -2 in this game. Considering his own contribution in shooting clip and turnovers, that is remarkable. Delly finds other ways to contribute. Delly is actually a top 100 +/- adjusted player in the NBA, and 2nd for the Cavs, despite not filling up the boxscore. Delly doesn't get criticised for going 1/7 because he does so much more for the team.

My criticism of Exum is really a criticism of the coaching. How did Goulding become a DNP? Broekhoff at least got 17 minutes, but he was an actual threat out there. Meanwhile, Exum really provides so little. He seems lost setting up offense. He is not being used in a pressing lineup. His perimeter shot is an inefficient offensive option, even when wide open. He is not using his speed to penetrate or kick out to shooters (what shooters, you say? Exactly, Broekhoff with 17 minutes and Goulding a DNP-CD).

Andersen playing the 4 spot at this stage of his career? There is a reason Andersen was being used predominantly at the 5 spot in London. Now Baynes is our major contributor at that position, Andersen needs to just get less court time. Motum showing much more value at the 4 spot. I think Andersen can contribute, but don't expect him to be able to defend mobile 4s, nor provide rim protection.

I thought Lemanis would be a good choice as head coach. We all thought he was keeping some cards close to his chest, waiting for the tournament. The changes so far from the friendly matches seems regressive.

Slovenia were white hot at stages, while the Boomers had so many deficiencies exposed, so to lose by just 10 is actually very surprising.

Seriously doubt we will see Jawai in a boomers singlet again after this campaign

Curtley - I wouldn't expect the NBL site to carry game coverage of the World Cup. Boomers and the World Cup is BA's precinct and they're all over it. NBL's marketing need is to use any momentum from the Boomers' World Cup participation to increase exposure for the upcoming NBL season. Gibson and Gleeson are the only World Cup team members they can use for that. One worthwhile thing the NBL could have considered is a player's or coach's blog from Gibson or Gleeson. Anything like that would have needed BA's permission, I suppose.

I'd expect NBL at some stage to capitalise on Gibson's and Gleeson's involvement towards the end of the tournament. That will be the right timing to shift the readers' focus from the Boomers to the upcoming NBL season. Especially if there's a medal involved.

Fair enough if you want to criticise Delly for not having a great game. Even so, he was -2 against a white-hot shooting Slovenia team. The point is, since joining the Boomers, Delly has proven his value to the team. He and Baynes and Ingles are clearly our top 3 guys on this team.

Anonymous - the current # 5 pick of NBA, Dante Exum only spent 10 minutes of court time in this game? "

I don't care what pick the kid is.. He is too timid to bring much to the team. He plays 'safe' and hops around the three point line anxiously with the ball looking to do as little as he can in fear of trying something and it failing. Get some swagger, take a chance.. take a shot. Drive FFS!

Also, surely we can find some minutes for Goulding and Bairstow?

Delly didn't have a great game. By his standards he would be disappointed with the turnovers. When we got it back to one point time there were occasions where Slovenia's defense turned it up and our guards turned it over but there were a few bad ones.
Hopefully we turn it around. It is good to see the future depth in Motum and Broekhoff step up. Hopefully Bairstow and Goulding can join the party in coming games.

You know, proof is in the pudding, If you get beat, shooting % is down, points for minutes are crap...
Thats where the answers lye (sp?)
Doesn't matter who is chosen, who should be in, What you see right here right now is exactly what you get!!
Some players have a few more games to prove a point!!

My thoughts on some of the main points raised:

Delly - he has struggled offensively all through the campaign. He spent the year playing inconsistent minutes as two-guard, he simply isn't in the same flow as when he was controlling the game 40 minutes a night for St Mary's.

He isn't a star international PG yet and we shouldn't expect him to be, but the defence and leadership are excellent. I think he needs a little more rest.

Our offence - we scored 80 points at 51%. Some of our turnovers cost us, and there was a dry spell in the third, but overall the offence itself was pretty good.

Defence - It's the D we've got to work on, and I found it odd Martin and Wortho/Walker were left at home in favour of an unfit Jawai and both Goulding/Broekhoff, who fill similar roles. I think this team is as much about 2016 as 2014 with Mills and Bogut out.

Bench - when the main players upped the intensity defensively yesterday Slovenia couldn't run their offence. But once they got tired Lemanis was too slow to use the bench to keep that intensity up and then bring the main guys in refreshed to do it again.

Gibson, Broekhoff and Bairstow need to be used more in an aggressive line-up to give the guns a short spell and put the heat on the oppo bench.

With Dragic in foul trouble in the third we wasted a golden chance to do this and our starters let their bench off the hook.

We don't have any stars but we have good depth and we have to use it.

Exum - of course he's not ready, he hasn't played any college or pro ball and he has a physically immature body. Don't bag the kid, he'll be a gun and was picked for the experience.

Gibson has been rock-solid all international season, much better than previous years when he just tried to fill a spot and not muck up, and he should be the back-up PG picking up Delly's intensity for regular short bursts harassing oppo PGs.

Bigs - we spent around 20 mins with Baynes and Andersen on together, which against a fast-paced team is far too many.

Andersen is a centre except for short spells looking for mismatches, Bairstow and Motum should be playing the bulk of the PF minutes and yesterday Ingles should have played some there against Slovenia's small ball line-ups ala the last few minutes.

Don't panic - all the crossover teams from 1-3 in Group C are pretty similar, this result won't necessarily make a big difference.

In fact, there's a decent chance we will face Slovenia in a QF so I don't mind the fact we can make a number of changes next time around.

Don't know how people can claim that though he didn't shoot well, Delly controlled and ran the team well.

5 turnovers is not very in control is it?

I can see how PGs can have bad shooting games and thats fine. But its unacceptable for a PG to stuff up his core duty which is taking care of the rock.

If Mills had that performance hed be getting crucified.

The biggest problem by a mile.

You pick your sets based on your players or you pick your players based on your sets.

The half court scheme the coaches are running is c rubbish with so few genuine shooters on the team. Exum, delly and ingles would do so much better with motion and our bogs would get easy looks