Japan defeated Belarus and easily beat Brazil before going down to Turkey in their last game.

Tokashiki could be a problem matchup for us given her mobility, but we should be able to deal with Yoshida & Co. so I'm not expecting major problems in this game. Liz to smash it.

Sorry ... it's on 7MATE, not 7TWO.

Boomers and Opals both with two games to get things humming for the knockouts. Hoping to see more of that WC style ball movement and execution from the France game.

Love having Tolo and Hodges on with Taylor. They are both dangerous in on-ball situations and that makes Penny super dangerous. Hopefully Joyce can start to settle more on combos in these two games.

Japan have sucked us into a track meet game so far, and they've got the defence looking a scrambling mess.

Shows the weakness up in the defence big time

Im finding the coaching a bit retarded. The Opals are struggling, liz is on fire, she has no foul trouble at all and Joyce keeps her on the bench. WTF!

Even George could score inside against this team.
Get the freaking ball inside!

She was taken off with like 1.20 to play before the half after already sitting for extended minutes in the same quarter.

Unable to watch, what is the score?

Unable to watch, what is the score?

Opals wont win this, Japan playing too well.

Good thing this is a group game. Japan are on fire.

Japan up by 12 at 3/4 time

Just about game over.
Margin out to 14 now.
Defence still abysmal.

16 down! Defence is almost as bad as the commentary

Haha...neither will be winning a medal that's for sure

Shows the weakness in Joyce's coaching IMO

Finally some signs of life

CMON! Lead back to 7 for Japan

5pts...GO LIZ

Japan choke alert

Are we a chance?

yes! 1 point down, 3mins to go

WE LEAD!

23 - 10 THIS QUARTER.

Liz and Leilani saving Brendan's job here

(plus Japan completely choking)

LJ Agrees with me, Liz should have been playing more during the 2nd & 3rd.
Japan are finally missing.

Big Block by Liz!

PENNY FOR 3

Penny!

So, we are gonna win?

What a great quarter for the Opals....5pt lead for the Opals with 51 seconds left

So, we are gonna win?

#clutch

^absolutley...... As someone else said earlier in the week, Taylor will be the one who will keep him his job.... Unfortunately

We should now. Up 5 with 46 sec left. Ball goes to....

Japan ball

Japans ball

LIZ IZ THE BEST!

Massive game by Liz

Opals will win.....WOW, I would have said we had no chance at 3/4 time.
Opals win 92 - 86

37pts for Liz.

What were Liz's 4th quarter numbers?
Ridiculous quarter by her just saved our silver chances

strange things can happen when you play your best 5 players at the same time.

Jarry -16 in less than 5 minutes.

The bench totally useless (tolo should be a starter).

Our bench are probably just dumfounded when Joyce keeps playing Burton over them, must make them feel pretty average when someone like that gets to play so many minutes over them.

Jarry was bad this game but she hasn't got to play much, she tries to force things in the few minutes she gets.

Saw a couple of highlights, looked like no one on the Japan team could guard Liz, anyway we got out of jail and continue onto the finals, well done girls!

Crossover is too early to tell yet, probably Spain.

Is there anywhere that shows game stats and preferably cumulative stats.

Pretty inept in-game performance by Joyce. Japan's advantage is speed, ours size, so you go big and play zone, right? So Cambage can intimidate close to the basket rather than chasing quicker players around near the perimeter, right?

Somehow it took Joyce more than three quarters to figure that out.

As soon as we started making them shoot shots over hands rather than on close-outs their percentage dropped, we were able to get into offence early in the clock and they had no answer to our execution, which was superb in the final quarter and obviously very well finished off by Liz.

lol it doesn't take much logic to figure out Liz should have played more... Japan are too small we needed to use our height

To play Liz more we had to play zone, we should have been mixing up our D from the opening minutes. Our ball-screen defence was embarrassing, which was a mixture of bad coaching and our girls not being locked into the job at hand.

Credit to Japan, they are a good team and played outstanding basketball, but we played dumb for most of the game and were coached dumb for most of the game which helped the, to play so well.

To be fair, Japan were shooting the lights out in the third quarter so a zone wouldn't have been the best option then.

our D played too high and allowed the pick and roll and dribble penetration to the basket for most of the game Japan were outstanding in identifying where they could score and sticking with it.

In the end a great confidence booster to the team that they were able to come back from 16pts down in the 4th quarter. Not many teams can do that!

Wilson, they were shooting the lights out because they were getting open shots from penetration against man. What was killing us was the easy ones from inside. We were always going to have to live with some threes, but until the fourth we weren't taking anything away from them, just playing reactive defence. Poor coaching.

Agree 100% Paul. Our offense was predictable and stagnant, and our defense was very reactive.

If we didn't have clearly the second-most talented team in the tournament, I think we would have lost to Turkey and Japan. Both nations (particularly Japan) appear to be much better prepared than our girls.

Given that the girls appear to be working hard and playing selflessly, the inability to play to their potential is on the coach.

I'll give Joyce the benefit of the doubt regarding the 2-3 zone: perhaps he didn't want to show too much this early in the tournament. Waiting until we were down by double figures could have been a recipe for disaster though.

"If we didn't have clearly the second-most talented team in the tournament"

I don't agree with that. We are certainly in that conversation, and our top three are the second best, but there are a number of other talented teams at this tournament.

Coaching was poor today, but I don't think it's been poor all tournament. At the end of the day we are 4-0 and +47 after playing four good teams.

We haven't reached the heights of 2014 yet - there were some great signs of that against France - but it's the knockout games that will decide whether the style and roster Joyce has chosen was the right one.

Why doesn't he start the game with the group that seems to bail them out and finish most games?

"The Opals then started operating better on offence through their high posts Liz Cambage and Nat Burton, creating much better opportunities to score and clawed their way back into the match. A tough, driving bucket from Cambage, giving her 11 points for the quarter, gave Australia a two-point lead inside the last minute."

"The 33-15 final term was founded on a masterful defensive change-up to a zone by coach Brendan Joyce and means the Opals will almost certainly finish on top of their pool."

Newspaper reports

Taylor needs a good rest, unfortunately we don't have anyone to cover her position. Jenna Ohea would have been handy to run some plays through, certainly better than some others we have in Rio.
If the Opals gave Burtons minutes to Jarry, Hodges & George we could have bought a scoring role player like Ohea or Spider Allen.

Fair enough Paul.

It isn't to say that I think the likes of Turkey, Canada etc aren't capable of competing and beating us, but looking past the Ws and margins I don't think the Opals have played great basketball - only for spurts, and only because (I believe) we're more talented.

The fact we have so many players on the team with international and/or WNBA experience (with a few current/former WNBA players missing out on the final 12) would attest to this.

If I'm right, I suspect our play won't improve substantially over the course of the tournament. Hopefully I'm proven wrong.

did the players on the court have any responsibility to stop the pick and roll and the dribble penetration?

We could all see it!!!

Burton does nothing! Doesn't score, doesn't rebound and always her player score on her! We are shocking with her on the court! She does nothing but her keeps putting her on!

Liz wasn't in foul trouble but played 20 odd minutes when she was killing it

Joyce gives no confidence to Erin phillips at all

Worst Opals coach in history!

Starting 5 should be

Mitchell
Phillips
Taylor
Tolo
Cambage

The next two subs should be hodges and ebzery

This is just a joke! So frustrating to watch! The team could have been so much better but even the team he chose he is still coaching them in the wrong way

So many idiots on this site... I suspect disgruntled family members or friends of players who didn't make the team or their agents.

They are 4 from 4! Get on board and support out girls! shut up and get over the fact they didn't make it! Move on people , go opals!

Annoy 100% correct

getonboard the Opal plane!!!!

Who plays the PF minutes has to depend on the opposition. Against Brazil coaches made a good adjustment to go big to counter their strong bigs, Tolo and George doing a good job.

Against Turkey we got murdered with Tolo and George there, they just couldn't guard the oppo. Good adjustment against France with Burton and Hodges doing an excellent defensive job. Against Japan, once it was clear no one could match their bigs' speed it was time to go more with Tolo and exploit them at the other end, which we eventually did.

Against Spain and Serbia we will need mostly speed, against the US a mix of both. We have good versatility in the front court, it's just a matter of getting right lineup for the right moment.

To all you tall poppy knockers, before you go again at the Opals coaches and players please include a brief resume of your own personal experience of coaching/playing/team selecting at international level.
Easiest thing in the world is to throw shit from afar when well hidden.
Get some balls and be Australian. And STFU if you can't be positive about a group representing your country.

^Hey Anon, What was said exactly in this thread that you don't agree with. Any Basketball minded person that watched the game today noticed the glaring coaching mistakes that could have cost us a shot at the USA in the Gold medal game....when this happens you are of course going to get posts about it, it is a basketball discussion forum.

Nothing but support in the Opals game v France. The girls were awesome.

Nothing but support for for every Boomers game so far.

In games when things go poorly, myself and other forum posters will make suggestions for potential improvements.

If that is being unpatriotic then all interwebs forums should be closed right now.

Insert - "Good Job Good Effort" meme if that is the only type of post we are allowed to make.

I would like to see them reverse the roles for Mitchell and Phillips on offence. Phillips is a world class PG who can create off the dribble and Mitchell is the best shooter in the tournament who Phillips and Taylor can create open shots for.

totally agree with anon 594827,


show us your credentials before throwing shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joyce "Worst opals Choach in History" - Sorry nope: not even second worst,

Robbie Cadee would probably be given that award,in respect of his inability to choose the right basketball talent, closely followed by Brendan Flynn.

But Joyce is a clear medalist in the event

@ - getonboard

show us your credentials...

You sound like a smart forum poster with basketball knowledge.

Right the Opals didn't get off to the best start, it was a shaky game for most of the bench who haven't been given the confidence to perform by playing spurts of 30 seconds.

Never the less, Opals came back from 16 down in the last quarter showing their class and that they're capable. Japan are a bloody good side, if anyone has been keeping an eye on them this tournament they have been playing exceptionally well, tipping them to be a medal chance when it's Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Get behind our Opals! They need us Australia!

getonboard, annoy and anonymous you are laughable. Fact that posters don't agree with your views doesn't make them un-Australian and it doesn't mean they don't want Opals to win!

There are some great players on the Opals team but not everyone selected is the best this country has to offer.

There are many that believe Brandon is not a good coach and has made some questionable decisions, they cannot possibly be all family members.

Seems to me you protest too much. maybe you're the family members of the coach or those that a considered as ordinary selections. Or Brandon him self.

Here you are hiding behind your anonymous names attacking others for posting anonymously. Seeking posters to show proof of credentials before making posts should apply to you as well.

Posters should not be attacked for having different views. From what I saw of the games criticism should be expected.

We're lucky for having some great players in the team and its credit to them that we are 4-0.

Titan 34 you do not even know the coaches name , that shows how much you know (brendon joyce)

If you watch the games closely and where they are off the ball in O and D, Burton i think is unfairly criticized

Can't say I agree with you about that, Nix36.
I've been following Erin for a long time in the game and point guard has never been an ideal position for her. She's competent, but her ability to read defences and decision-making with the ball is not her strength. Very surprised you'd want to take the ball out of Leilani's hands given the near-perfect way she has run the team, balancing distribution with staying aggressive with her own scoring. She has been running the point at the top level for many years and is very poised as a result.

The guard spots are the least of the Opals worries IMO. The starting combo is good, and both Lavey & Ebzery make meaningful contributions when they come in as well. (I would actually consider starting them next game, and have Leilani & Erin come in for 15 minutes each tops, just to give them some breathers)

@ Luuuc well rounded/balanced post although I'm gonna need to see those credentials.

getonboard - there you go, thinking that making a typo in someone's name is a measure of ones credentials.

titan 34 typo myself brendan joyce

_strungoat_ too funny

Luuuc - I don't need to see your credentials. Your posting is balanced and includes balanced evaluations, based on your perspective.

Looks like you've busted me, _Strungout_
I've got nothing.
Allow me to revise my opinion on things

* There is no scope for improvement in any area
* Everyone is awesome
* Everything is perfect

Hahahaha, that's a winning post Luuuc!