much change from the bronze medal game from the worlds ?

Yeah, I'm expecting a better effort too now that hopefully the first half of game 1 got the nerves out of our system.
Ideal result for me is a win in which Leilani, Erin, Penny & Liz play 20 minutes max.

^ Well, so much for that.

Another bad start by the Opals. Offence not producing good looks for us, and Liz with 2 early fouls.

Teams are guarding her well, and for some reason her response is to rush her shots. That's not her game.
Things looking better with Lavey & Ebzery out there.

Opals offence running like a non-oiled machine :/

Trailing 26-29 at the half. Katie Rae now with 3 PFs unfortunately.

Why did it take until the last minute of the first half for one of our guards to go under the high screen?

They've shot two triples for the entire half yet we're getting consistently beaten on roll-outs and penetration. FFS.

Providing we pull our fingers out and get a win, this game will have done us a big favour showing how much work we need on zone offence (which to this point has consisted of shooting triples).

Again though, it's the intensity on the defensive end that produces the offence, and so far we've just be far too reactive, which is suicide against European offences.

Oh yeah, and the reffing! Bloody hell, did these three just come from a U12s game and decide to call it the same way? Frustrating.

Can't blame the refs for this garbage we're dishing up. My goodness.

turkey finished 4th at worlds - every game will be tough. IMO refs need to let game flow more - calling the scragging foul once ball has moved on. Slow ball suits Turkey.

Our help defence seems missing sometimes ? This game turkey packing it in with slow ball - need the treys / mid ranges

You're right - it does - but so much of the stagnation is our own fault. The offense looks directionless when plan A "focus everything on Cambage" doesn't pan out.

Ebzery again giving us some attack mode. She's been good.

little off topic - how great was that shooting gold for Catherine Skinner from country Victoria in her rookie games ! and our Rugby 7s - men and women !

43-41 lead at 3Q time in this goalfest

refs are reffing both teams the same, but the style of game it is creating suits Turkey.

Turkey also getting good penetration off both the dribble and pass.

What 7 channel is it on can't find it on Foxtel

no way known that was a foul on Liz on the defensive elbow - she was just standing there and the Turkish player throwing herself around and at Liz.

Ouch. 4th "foul" for Liz. That hurts. She was just getting rolling too.

7 two

we have had nearly the full game to view today on 7 two

Turkey has played smart ball focussed after calls - little emotion and interpreted umpiring better to their advantage.

2 good minutes now should do it.

Go to work, Penny.

... or, 2 bad minutes could
:/

Why are we rushing suddenly?

our talls drawn into too many off the ball, away from action push and shoves. And the calls follow....

Dam lucky to get away with that win

Ummm... WTF Turkey?
LOL

Opals win by 5

"Can't blame the refs for this garbage we're dishing up. My goodness."

Who was blaming the refs for our performance? It was the same for both teams, but Jesus I hope that's not the way the women's tournament is going to be called. So stop start, it was painful.

It certainly was painful.
But we did not handle it well at all. I was hoping game 1 got the kinks out for us but it wasn't the case at all. We looked even worse today IMO.

What can Burton do that Hodges cant? Its just ridiculous that Burton gets so many minutes, its ridiculous she is there at all.

Penaluna is an injury waiting to happen unfortunately , poor girl has had one after the other she's too much of a liability at this level. But batkovic certainly would have been a much better option

i too was disappointed the Bat Girl missed out, but that is in the past. For F@#$ sake MOVE ON!!!! Our team is playing , and doing their best. 2 from 2 and not playing at their potential is still a good start. A lot of other teams would like a similar start.

Winning games early whilst not playing your best to me is a good sign of things to come.

OPALS thrash Turkey !!!

61 vs 56.

USA coach Geno Auriemma was quoted as saying they don't have any idea how to handle Burton and just hope that she gets worn out from having to carry the Australian team by the time the medal round arrives.

Geno was quoted as saying "Australia's game against the Turkey powerhouse has given us many things to think about, we know something is happening out there because Australia is winning, but we haven't exactly worked out what it is yet or how to stop it"

meanwhile in WNBA news Seattle is urgently attempting to sign Lavey as a replacement for Sue bird - a spoke person saying " Sue has had her day, and from what we have seen so far, Australia is Tess's team, without her they really struggle, having to use a WNBA bench player Brendan tells us that basically, because Tess has just dominated Australia's PGs so much most have left for netball and he had to take Mitchell just to make up the numbers."

BA advises that on the outstanding progress of the Opals so far, they have offered both the boomers and opals coaching roles as lifetime appointments to an unnamed coach , whose verbal response was unprintable but apparently very positive.


On a serious note, our players are very very talented and dedicated, they do deserve better leadership than this. They are all busting a gut but seem stuck in a playbook that has answers only for questions that haven't been asked yet.

I mean turkey hit 4/12 3 point shots in their game against france, why the focus on fighting over the screen ?

Lets hope the players can overcome it all and get at least silver.

I don't think there's much point in getting caught up in selection arguments anymore.
Joyce picked a team to suit his game style (which seems to fly in the face of his decision to leave Bec Allen at home, but I digress...)
Now he needs to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to stop his game style from being shut down at the first hint of resistance.

As much as I like Suzi I think you would have to drop Cayla, Liz or Tolo to fit her in.
I would have taken Griffin over Burton and Ohea over Talbot. That would give us more scoring power. When Liz is sitting there is too much pressure on Taylor to score, if she has a quiet game like tonight we struggle.
Mitchell continues to impress.

Can't have both Mitchell and Griffin though, Andy, otherwise I'm sure Kelsey would have been there because a quality mobile 4 is a glaring weakness.
But Leilani is too important, so taking her was the right call IMO.

Interesting call about Penny & Liz and I think you have a point there. Penny's game has never been jacking up threes so that was a worry to see today. She's also not a go-to type player, so handing her the ball and standing around watching is not a good plan either. Her strength is reading the floor and finding the weaknesses. She should be able to be very effective when Liz is the focus of the D, but Liz is not a good passer out of the post. But the quicker the game, the better Penny will play. The painful grind-it-out, execute-nothing style does not suit her ... nor anyone else on the team other than Cambage who can be effective in any situation.
Erin & Leilani are the same. Neither is going to kill you with skills or athleticism, but both are smart & unselfish and need to be involved in a lot of movement & touches.

Luuuc, What do you mean cant have both Griffin & Mitchell? Griffin is Australia's most versatile player, I have seen her play the 2, 3 and 4 at the highest level.

Firstly, there is no way in hell she plays the 2! What the?

But anyway what I meant is that we're only allowed one naturalised player in international basketball, so it's Leilani or Kelsey. Can't have both.

You can only have one naturalized player. Both Griffin an Mitchell are naturalized.

Burtons stats say it all really, I know stats don't tell you everything, but she didn't get one single rebound, and next to Philipps she had the lowest efficiency rate at a -2
Running more minutes than 3 players put together who had better stats....
Come on Joyce wake up!!!!!

OPALS thrash Turkey !!!

61 vs 56.

USA coach Geno Auriemma was quoted as saying they don't have any idea how to handle Burton and just hope that she gets worn out from having to carry the Australian team by the time the medal round arrives.

Geno was quoted as saying "Australia's game against the Turkey powerhouse has given us many things to think about, we know something is happening out there because Australia is winning, but we haven't exactly worked out what it is yet or how to stop it"

meanwhile in WNBA news Seattle is urgently attempting to sign Lavey as a replacement for Sue bird - a spoke person saying " Sue has had her day, and from what we have seen so far, Australia is Tess's team, without her they really struggle, having to use a WNBA bench player Brendan tells us that basically, because Tess has just dominated Australia's PGs so much most have left for netball and he had to take Mitchell just to make up the numbers."

BA advises that on the outstanding progress of the Opals so far, they have offered both the boomers and opals coaching roles as lifetime appointments to an unnamed coach , whose verbal response was unprintable but apparently very positive.



WTF.....LMAO ..... best post for a while could be Joyce's PA with write ups like that


I would love to see the girls get a gold or silver, but honestly if they do Australia will probably have to wear Joyce for another four years.... Not sure what's a worse senario loosing or winning.

If they do win it won't be through his coaching, I bet Taylor has a huge input as on floor coach, she won't want to loose

quote from anon above "I would love to see the girls get a gold or silver, but honestly if they do Australia will probably have to wear Joyce for another four years.... Not sure what's a worse senario loosing or winning"

The Opals have never won gold at the olympics despite having some great teams and also coaches in the past.

You are letting your personal opinion of Joyce cloud your brain. IF they win gold, surely Joyce has proven the critics wrong and should continue coaching the team.

In his career as a player and coach, he had good results, but let himself down by trying to promote SOJ above his ability. He is not and will not be the last parent to fall into this trap. SOJ aside, I would rate his career.

It wasn't pretty, but the Opals got the job done.

In a performance that was unconvincing of their number-two ranked status, Australia were composed late and defeated Turkey, 61-56, to go 2-0 to begin the Games.

Recap: Sloppy Opals survive Turkish scare

^ you omitted this part of the post

"If they do win it won't be through his coaching, I bet Taylor has a huge input as on floor coach, she won't want to loose "

IMO I'll stick to this thanks,


Joyce has NOT has a successful career at international level, he was "second assistant coach" for boomers ....... And his penchant for picking a personal fav be it son or otherwise is well known and he will run them to the detriment of the team.

I never mentioned his international coaching career. I thought this was his 1st time in charge. As an assistant your input is "minimal"in team selection etc.

Your "If they do win it won't be through his coaching," is stupid. You are saying no credit for winning, but all blame for losing. You cannot have it both ways.

You are letting a personal dislike for Joyce cloud your limited ability to look clearly at issues!

I think there was a lot of emotional petrol used overcoming the home team and their crowd in game 1. Not surprised to see them have a let down in this game and Turkey are no slouches. Team didn't play well, but still got the W. 2-0 is the only stat that matters

Cambage clearly has an elite emotional petrol tank

Well, the Opals won and continue through to their next tough assignment, good for them and well done to everyone involved in the team, coaches, assistants and players!

It is plainly obvious that oppositions will and have already scouted us, look at how they draw fouls on Liz, just because she is bigger than almost everyone else on the court doesn't mean she is fouling them.

My concern is that officials will get suckered into calling flops and straight up incidental contact where Liz's opponents throw themselves around like the Turks did a couple of times and she gets into early foul trouble.

Otherwise, I think she is doing great and showing genuine signs that she wants this...

Cambeige needs to get smarter and not put herself into situations that draw fouls when she's in foul trouble.

I thought the refereeing was great. It was stop start but to me that is less annoying then watching travels and fouls let go for the sake of a free flowing game.

well said Bear

I think Cambage has done a great job so far, in terms of the balance between staying aggressive enough to be an intimidating defender, and keeping herself away from foul trouble. Still not perfect by any means, but in the past that area has been a major issue for her and she is noticeably better now.
She still cops bad calls, like her 4th this morning, and needs to learn not to lose it over those. That's something her coach and teammates should be helping out with as well.
Her play really is the very least of our problems though. Without Liz we are 0-2.

So to modify anon's post above, I think it's really just 3 of our starting 4 that need to lift their games. It's great that our bench has been chipping in with some valuable contributions. That needs to continue, and preferably improve too. But our starting 4 is legit WNBA-calibre, and should be converting that ability into better starts.

Bear IMO the call that I could not understand was Liz's 4th - if anyone can explain what she did wrong I would appreciate it. From what I saw Liz was standing still on the defensive elbow and holding her ground against a player that was pushing into her that appeared to ease off then try to push through her not around Liz bringing them both to ground.

I also reckon we can expect zones against us from now - after Turkey's great D.

coffeepls, both were pushing/holding.

ref could have made no call, or foul either depending on his view angle.

What a sarcastic comment Anonymous. Just like a spoilt brat who needs his arse kicked.

I thought Joyce coached very well against Brazil, but he was poor against Turkey.

He made a good adjustment sitting Burton and Hodges in the first game because the Brazilian bigs were too strong for them, but then he went with George and Tolo at PF today against quicker opponents and those two and Cambage got abused in ball screen situations.

With the way they were defending they needed Hodges sharing the minutes at PF. If they were going with the bigger line-up they needed to defend differently and force the Turks to hit triples. They shot 29% at last year's Eurobasket and 32% at the 2014 WC.

There obviously could be factors we don't know about (like not wanting to give away how they'll protect Cambage defensively until later in the tournament) but from the outside it looks like poor game-planning.

Still, Turkey are a decent team, they had a good plan, executed it well, Penny and Erin struggled and the Opals still won. That's a good sign as long as they learn from this game re D, zone offence etc.

You are certainly judging Joyce's character. I'm not a great fan of his coaching style but it's his job, his team and up until now he is winning. Suzi is a good player but she ain't the messiah and she is owed nothing. Yes Burton did nothing today but neither did Taylor or Phillips. Cambage proved she has a temper tantrum when she doesn't get it her way, I don't think I have ever seen her dish a pass back out for an outside shot even when she is under real pressure.

I'd like to see Mitchell and Lavey together for some real fast defence pressure.

Going with Tolo and George at PF is fine, but they have to change the way they defend against mobile frontcourts with a bigger line-up.

With either of those two at the 4-spot in the second half the Opals got exploited by Turkey's quicker bigs, especially in ball-screen situations.

It's either got to be aggressive D with Burton or Hodges at PF or containment with Tolo or George.

Massive. It's important to have that mobile defensive PF to play the style that best suits Australian teams, but both the men's and women's team don't really have that player at a high level.

Lemanis has effectively gone without, changing his disruptive style to suit bigger PFs. Joyce has gone with that sort of player even though she has little to no offensive ability.

Of course, the good news is both Simmons and Magbegor can potentially give us some real star power in that spot.

Simmons will be an international PF, just as James, Durant and Anthony are for the US. With Magbegor we will see, will be a change for her, but she has amazing mobility and body control for a girl her size.

^let these "kids" grow up before making such predictions, too many years ahead before they would be looking at this level,

Not for Simmons, considering he'll probably be starting in the NBA next year. Ezi has a bit further to go but she'll be fastracked into the Opals you would think.

Thought you were talking about Simmons the female player seeing as this is an opals thread, so apologies yes Simmons definitely, but not as power forward, he runs as a guard

No probs. Will be interesting to see. I think he'll be used as the US use LeBron, but he can swing through quite a few spots depending on match-ups.

^ couldn't agree more, whoever it is posting this dam list, as has been proven by the choices made by Joyce..... Lots can and do come out of the woodworks at selection time,

Anonymous, nice comments, pity they are all here say and circumstantial. You can't provide proof af any of that. As for the Cambage/Kunik affair, the coach can't be responsible for that happening. Cambage made her own decision (and a poor one) to attend the music festival and was punished for it. If you hard going to post, make it factual.

Yeah, it's getting pretty silly

I think anonymous is probably not far from the mark
1-true
2 - think it was a mutual decision lol
3- certainly makes sense
4- well can't blame him for lizziys issues
5- absolutely true and disgraceful
6- no one can dispute that

In which parallel universe was Hodges the replacement for Batkovic?

I thought Hodges was a lock the moment Burton was selected and Allen was cut.
Batkovic was a result of having too many worthy, but slow, bigs (Cambage, Tolo, George, Batkovic, Burton) in the squad and needing to lose one for balance. Tolo was touch-and-go after coming off a major injury so it was wise IMO to leave it until as late as possible before committing to her. Once that was done it needed to be either George or Batkovic that was left out. I probably would have gone with Suzy personally, seeing how little Cayla's defence has improved since it was badly exposed in the WNBA last year, but I also think that leaning Cayla's way is understandable given her ability to catch and shoot from the perimeter, and she did also lead the WNBL in rebounding this past season, 3+ rpg ahead of Suzy.

Laura's experience and versatility proved very valuable in the Oceania qualifiers and I'm pretty sure that would have stuck in Joyce's mind. She's also the closest thing we have to a true 4. I'm actually a little surprised she hasn't been tried more in the first 2 games. She used to have a very reliable medium range J.