Boomers are getting their asses handed to them.

It is very ugly.

Boomers have brought it back to 12 points at three quarter time 64-52 after it twice blew out to a 23 point lead.

Final score: Brazil 96-67 Australia

Wow, a terrible 29 point loss. We looked incompetent on offense and impotent on defence.

I am glad these games mean nothing. Or were we supposed to be using them to get ready for an Olympics or something?

Baynes played terribly. Not too many others contributed. Mills was ok.

The only positive will be the much needed reality check it hopefully gives some posters here.
Other than that: ouch!

Getting killed 44-26 on the glass doesn't help. Baynes 6 rebounds, Goulding 4, nobody else with more than 3. Motum with zero in 18 minutes.

Motum and Baynes combining for 13 points on 5 of 20 shots is pretty brutal. Getting to the free throw line looks to be a problem in the 2 games so far.

We have a problem at the 4 spot. I would love to see Broekhoff play there a bit more. I love the spacing of a Delly Mills Ingles Broekhoff Andersen lineup.

Motum isn't the answer at this stage.

Defensively we need to improve a lot - giving up 96 in an international game is not good. Cant keep the ball in front, rotations are slow and we are giving up too many open looks.

BUT its still early stages and the reason they play these practice games is to find out what the issues are and put measures in place to fix them. the positives are that in 2 games now they have come back from big margins so the fight is there.

This is my take on the 4-spot. I'm not sure if it is right yet, Motum is OK against softer opponents, but anyone physical he doesn't appear up to it, and we do have a pretty physical group.

http://www.fiba.com/news/who-stole-brad-newleys-spot

Boomers certainly did not play like they believe their own hype. Brazil played like a team, we played like a bunch of individuals who have never played together.

They played simple but effective pick and rolls we couldn't defend to save ourselves and kicked out to wide open three point shooters whenever we collapsed the defence.

We played one-dimensional and very predicable four out jack up a defended three; pump the ball into the post only to get manhandled into terrible shots; or one on five iso ball when nothing else was working using players who grossly unsuited to it. Funnily we also tried to alley oop to Baynes about four times in the second half which was intercepted three times and where Baynes choked the fourth.

Delly hit a couple of threes (on 2-3 shooting) and 5 assists, but had more turnovers than assist from what I saw including a couple of those overly ambitious alley-oops.

Otherwise he was no better or worse than anyone else on the team - that is to say, terrible.

It was not a slow star! Australia led early!!

"Wow, a terrible 29 point loss. We looked incompetent on offense and impotent on defence.

I am glad these games mean nothing. Or were we supposed to be using them to get ready for an Olympics or something?

Baynes played terribly. Not too many others contributed. Mills was ok."

When Baynes cant manhandle his way to the bucket, he does a whole lot of brain farts. He should never have to make a decision with the ball. I pray Bogut does return because Baynes is not equipped to carry the load on his own inside.

"The only positive will be the much needed reality check it hopefully gives some posters here.
Other than that: ouch!"

I think the reality is that we were heavily beaten ina practice game where our NBA guys played only 20 minutes and where were missing Ingles and Bogut. We were also shown some weaknesses to fix. I can't say that the game was in any way particularly promising, but I wouldn't be denouncing the Boomers based on it. Certainly teams have smashed eachother in warm up games and things have been very different in the real tournament.

"etting killed 44-26 on the glass doesn't help. Baynes 6 rebounds, Goulding 4, nobody else with more than 3. Motum with zero in 18 minutes.

Motum and Baynes combining for 13 points on 5 of 20 shots is pretty brutal. Getting to the free throw line looks to be a problem in the 2 games so far."

You'd think boards would be fine with our line up. And I also think that both Argentina and Brazil got home cooking on calls. When someone like an Ingles takes the ball on the drive he is more likely to be fouled than lumbering Baynes or Motum.

"We played one-dimensional and very predicable four out jack up a defended three; pump the ball into the post only to get manhandled into terrible shots; or one on five iso ball when nothing else was working using players who grossly unsuited to it. Funnily we also tried to alley oop to Baynes about four times in the second half which was intercepted three times and where Baynes choked the fourth."

Delly will soon have to learn that Baynes is no Tristan Thompson.

"This is my take on the 4-spot. I'm not sure if it is right yet, Motum is OK against softer opponents, but anyone physical he doesn't appear up to it, and we do have a pretty physical group.

http://www.fiba.com/news/who-stole-brad-newleys-spot"

The more I see, the more evident it is that Brad Newley should be in this team. We have too many short guards who cant defend post up guys. I was supportive of taking Martin to the Olympics, but now I have seen the fruits of that, what was the point really? He rarely sees minutes and his defense is yet to shut anyone down at this level. I definitely think this team has a place for both Brad Newley, and Cam Gliddon because he's a guard with a little athleticism and length.

I don't think people think we're a shoe in. They think we have a chance. And we do have a chance despite this terrible game. All types of crazy shit happens in warm up matches. I believe the Boomers in 00 crushed teams in warm ups that went on to beat them. As for "Can't even beat Brazil", do you have any idea how good Brazil actually is?

Anyway, Bogut is 100% set to play at the games, which will be a boost and help plug at least some of the holes found in the warm up series.

http://pickandroll.com.au/sources-bogut-will-play-rio/

Funny how you didn't say shit when Broekhoff has 8 boards against Argentina, though...

It is all going to come down to how they come together as a team. They have more talent and are deeper than half of the competition. We're hoping for a bit of luck and some gelling for the other half.

One of the many problems is they have had jack sh#t time to play and train as a team properly.. unlike other countries.

Don't know, maybe the 96 and 2000 played better because they all knew each others tendencies quite well from playing against each other in the NBL.

This team is a bit of a mix, plus injuries.

I reckon the 96 or 2000 Boomers teams could beat this team.

I'm only going from what I've seen and heard in the media, but I always think the time from when the proper team was announced til now seems like a very short time to get ready, especially for something like the Olympics.

Well I have always been aware how strong they are.

You obviously don't know a lot about international basketball. Most of the NBA guys on other teams don't average much more than that. If you want to talk about his worth to this team, talk about his averages at world cup and Olympics. Or otherwise just shut the fuck up.

Yes it's a warm up game but it's a warm up game for them too. They didn't have Varejao and Barbosa barely played. Brazil aren't a legit medalist and getting destroyed by 30 should send alarm bells ringing. Baynes was very disappointing inside he looked like Aleks Maric today going up all soft and with no lift.

We can't afford to feel our way into the group stage games you have to hit the ground running especially being in such a strong group.

How many warm-up game do we have left two? We need at least 1-2 more than that.

Yeah I felt like slapping him a few time when he missed those sitters. Thankfully Bogut is in, and he is a upgrade on Baynes even at 70%.

This will be the last time I respond to you, so soak it up.

* Brazil IS a strong team.

* It IS a warm up game (ask Boti Nagy how much stock he puts into those)

* Other teams DO only have NBA role players save for Spain (who has one or two aging stars) and France (who were almost beaten by the Philippines and Tall Blacks) and obviously the USA. Name an NBA STAR that doesn't play for one of those three teams.

* As for excuses during the Olympics, there will be none. The Olympics are the time to show and prove. If they don't, I will place blame where it belongs. But I am not going to spend all this time hating on a team that I gladly support just because they might not go as far as I'd like.

I am all for open discussions and people disagreeing, but it seems you want to hate for the sake of it. Rather than cite evidence that suggests our medal hopes of wayward and doing so in an informed way, you'd rather just hammer on with the same ol "Delly sucks" and "NBA role player" crap which proves you don't know anything about the international game. You sound like a right asswipe festering in the misfortune of your countrymen. You really are tall poppy syndrome personified.

Didn't hear a squeak from you after we beat Argentina I noticed. And I also noticed how little you understood about how FIBA rankings work and how they relate to each current team - eg, Argentina being ranked 4th.

Done. Ended. Say what you want, I am not going to play along with your juvenile garbage.

Don't you have to do something before people can have "tall poppy syndrome" aka being realistic