This game really scares me but I think will tell us a lot about if the Boomers really can medal this year. Nigeria can either play like a medal team or like an also-ran but it will take the Boomers dictating the tempo of the game to decide which one they're subject to. I think the Boomers win by about 7 points but I am worried about this game more than the other two in the group. With Italy and Germany you know what you're going to get. With Nigeria you could get anything on any given day. I wouldn't expect Nigeria to shoot the way they did against the US though, which should bode well for us.

It seems we need our perimeter defense to be functioning well. I'm confident with our defense, but at the same time, worried that Nigeria has an actual coach now and might add some surprises.

7plus app

Excited but nervous. I expect our defense to be good but we have to make our shots too. Who knows which Nigerian team we will get. I think we were a couple of practice games short to really test our stuff so important we get through the next 3 games with wins and an opportunity to bring it all together.

I hope the feed crosses to our Aussie commentators.

Hoping Luuuc can give us a stats link.

STATS LINK

It's on Seven.

Cheers Luuuc. And Pworld yes on channel 7.

Splash Ingles

Anybody else hate Boguts voice already?

Yes.

In Sydney they are showing rubbish AFL instead of Boomers. Not happy.

Nice start, Patty :)

There was a banner for NSW viewers to switch to another 7 station. Similarly for SA a minute ago.

NSW 7flix.
SA 7two.

I think anything on the main channel gets switched to 7Two when it is evening news time

Flix? ok, so much for my previous theory

or that.

7mate switches to 7flix I think actually.

These station names are fucking stupid.

Fingers crossed for surviving Sobey time

LOL that didn't take long

:/

Classic.

Sobey geez...

Gah

Could they have found a commentator with any less personality?

+1 on Bogut's voice. Gaze and Casey combo is like going home to family though, assuming you get along with your family!

We are definitely playing nervous

Could they have found a commentator with any less personality?

7+ online must have a different commentator than the television coverage. It's one American guy doing it and he's dreadful

The streams have world feed commentators.

Boomers have 5th place in the bag

It's on 7HD unless your market has local programming.

"Sobey, Goulding and Kay is below international standard"

Kay is certainly not below international standard. Too bad I can't say the same for the other two.

How is that a foul on Baynes? Wow.

Please stop throwing the ball away!

Delly! LOL man that was ugly

This 8 on 5 stuff is rough.

Damn, deep three by Delly with a simultaneous foul on Nigeria. Nice.

Been impressed with Kay's defence, he keeps on getting it done

Not fussed with exums point guard skills

Thybulleshit.

I like that drive though!!

So good just seeing Exum out there, fact he's playing confident and aggressive is amazing

Goulding's efforts on defense were respectable too while on the floor

Chill, Dante.

Relieved just to be in front after that mess of a half

What's the foul sitch

Ingles, Thybulle, Landale, Kay all with 2

That's troubling.

This is so ugly.

I think Ingles is the only player I'm happy with creating the offence. Everybody else seems to be struggling apart from patty isos

Kay having yet another good one in the green & gold

Nigeria's length is disrupting our high to low actions.

Yeah, credit where it's due to their D. They are seriously disruptive.

Oh shit
Exum...

Jock hasn't looked comfortable out there

Landale's looked out of his depth at this level.

No motion, no back cuts, no movement. Why?
Iso will never do it for us.

Nigeria's D is stretched out, not giving Landale space. We lack interior threats.

Surprised we haven't given Reath more of a chance given Baynes & Landale's struggles

And they are getting hands into the passing lanes too.

Lucky for the Boomers Nigeria's offense (and foul shooting) has been erratic.

Boy Goorj also using his bench which Andrej didn't tend to do.

So glad Exym is ok.

This commentator sux.
If this gave was on any later he'd be putting me to sleep....

Using the bench more might help us later, but the chemistry right now isn't great. Brown has also been running a deep rotation for Nigeria.

What the fuck Goulding shoot the open 3 or pass it

Why is Goulding on the court... again?

Just when you thought it couldn't get more ugly...

Ugly ugly game

Baynes. What is it, you do???!!!

He rebounds and has a beard

Green looking great on the defensive end. D and Nigeria's poor free throw shooting keeping our lead.

Green looking great on the defensive end. D and Nigeria's poor free throw shooting keeping our lead.

Sooooo many turnovers, argh.

Not sure if basketball or some other Olympic sport.

Hating the offence atm even when we don't turn it over

This is so ugly to watch

That has to be a flagrant foul or these refs are utterly incompetent.

Sanity prevails.

Any chance Bogut might injure his voice and have to sit out for a while? Just hoping

Letter of the law.

It's nice they've given this game to ref to the guys who are on work experience

We aren't getting any offensive boards, have no interior defense and barely setting a screen, yet Reath still sits on the bench.

Goorj is saving him for the NBL season.

What is Ingles trying to do. Keeps losing the ball. Too slow!

I have assumed it is really hot in the stadium, both teams were sweating during the national anthems.

Both teams look totally out of sync.

Germany and Italy looked so much better in the early game.

Patrick Mills = International Iverson

We'd be so screwed without Patty

Joe Joe Joe!! You are better than that !!

Patrick Mills = International Iverson

Jesus Thybulle tried to murder someone

Swimming.

Oh well at least we got virtually the whole game

How is best 2nd place team calculated? Points diff?

Rebounding stats will say a lot

84-65

Splashing heats are apparently more important. Never change Seven.

Isaac

Only been watching since half time.


The Casey/Gaze/ Bogut commentary is like coming home to family, a partial dysfunctional one, so very familiar (unintended pun) for many.

Just watch it online via 7Plus for the whole game next time.

Shitty start, but a win is a win. I'll take it.
Fair to expect a much sharper effort in game 2.

Thank goodness that one is out the way

Leave the swimming interviews for later, please.

Thanks channel seven miss the end for bullshit swimming heat. Not even a final just a crappy heat.

Probably is a thread for this but any way to watch France v USA? #askingforafrog

Watch it on 7Plus for the whole game, *if* you don't mind two boring af yanks commentating :)

I don't blame Ch7 for euthanising that game tbh.

Happy with that first up win by 19 with a lot of improvement still to be made.

It happens every Olympics/WC but we need to find a way to be a bit less reliant offensively on Patty.

I don't blame Ch7 for euthanising that game tbh.

#478 I agree people should expect this by now but the least ch 7 can do is play the full game and not miss multiple parts of the game due to adds, making viewers change the channel and then not playing the last 2 minutes, could you imagine if any respectable pro sports league/ broadcasting company did this, it'd be a flat out joke did. Regardless if this is to expect from them it’s still a pathetic job done by what’s meant to be one of the leading broadcasters in this country. From now on however #474 stick to the streaming it seems to be the only hope to actually watch the game in full unfortunately.

Also considering the general physical play of the game, Metu getting ejected was a joke

Very unconvincing win.
Our lack of interior presence was glaringly obvious and will be a big liability against Germany.
Reath needed more minutes to grab some boards, set screens and score in the paint.
Hopefully Ingles can find some Utah form very soon.
Our lack of offensive chemistry was unacceptable at this level.
I liked Exum's attack on the rim but where were the bigs to clean up the boards?
We had near zero low post activity.
9n ball defense was very good but again, lack of bugs will expose us defensively against bigger teams

Didn't Metu get ejected for the unsportsmanlike then immediately saying something naughty to the refs?
Dunno full FIBA ruling but that's basically 2 tech's and you're gone.

Good thing we hopefully won't turn the ball over that much again. Nigeria imploded at the end.
As soon as they switched to swimming I switched to 7plus. Didn’t mind the call either

Absolute jumble ball. turnovers and forced offence at times looked like social comp. Thankfully Nigeria were just far worse than us in the 2nd half.

Don't quite know what to make of it. Certainly not a confident, well oiled machine/medalist performance.

I expected channel 7 to skip to other sports so watched on 7 Plus, was great add free stream.

Only downside was the US commentator kept telling us all game that Nigeria beat the US in a lead up game.

7 Plus seems to be the place to watch sports that go for longer

I expected channel 7 to skip to other sports so watched on 7 Plus, was great add free stream.

Only downside was the US commentator kept telling us all game that Nigeria beat the US in a lead up game.

7 Plus seems to be the place to watch sports that go for longer

With this game, the scoreline looks right, but the product on court looked rusty and disjointed as fuck.

Good teams win games though, even when it's ugly. So hopefully that's where we're at with this team.

Joe Ingles passed off some perfectly good shots and I have had enough of him doing that. You're one of the NBA's best shooters. SHOOT THE DAMN BALL.

Patty Mills looked like he was having a bad game then you look at his score - 25 points. Okay, you're dismissed Patty. Good job.

Josh Green was very solid in his minutes and is a good sub for Thybulle.

Thybulle contributed what you'd expect from him, no issues there.

Baynes. Hmm... is Baynes just past it at this point? Our best performances so far have consistently been without him. You have to question what his role in this team will be moving forward.

Landale - did he even turn up? I am pretty sure I saw him do exactly nothing.

But more specifically with this game, it has shades of the game we played against Senegal at the world cup. Ugly as hell. The athleticism of the African teams causes us to rush our stuff and really stifles our offense, yet with sheer will, ability and defensive starch, we fumble our way to a win that ends up being convincing enough.

I think we will play better on the offensive end against the European teams and will take a lot out of this win. Our offense was really tested and we will move forward stronger because of it.

Hideous game, but the W and scoreline proves why we're favourites to top this pool.

With this game, the scoreline looks right, but the product on court looked rusty and disjointed as fuck.

Good teams win games though, even when it's ugly. So hopefully that's where we're at with this team.

Joe Ingles passed off some perfectly good shots and I have had enough of him doing that. You're one of the NBA's best shooters. SHOOT THE DAMN BALL.

Patty Mills looked like he was having a bad game then you look at his score - 25 points. Okay, you're dismissed Patty. Good job.

Josh Green was very solid in his minutes and is a good sub for Thybulle.

Thybulle contributed what you'd expect from him, no issues there.

Baynes. Hmm... is Baynes just past it at this point? Our best performances so far have consistently been without him. You have to question what his role in this team will be moving forward.

Landale - did he even turn up? I am pretty sure I saw him do exactly nothing.

But more specifically with this game, it has shades of the game we played against Senegal at the world cup. Ugly as hell. The athleticism of the African teams causes us to rush our stuff and really stifles our offense, yet with sheer will, ability and defensive starch, we fumble our way to a win that ends up being convincing enough.

I think we will play better on the offensive end against the European teams and will take a lot out of this win. Our offense was really tested and we will move forward stronger because of it.

Hideous game, but the W and scoreline proves why we're favourites to top this pool.

Aussies always struggle against African nations with that type of tall athletic style - lots of blocks, stifled passes, forced turnovers. Very messy.

Nigeria could be an awesome side - stacked with NBA talent. Brown brings in structure which is a big tick, now they need to clean up their turnovers and hit their free throws.

For Aussies, now we go eurostyle.

It was like playing against 5 Matisse Thybulles out there. If Nigeria had even shot the ball half decent we would have lost. And in saying that the Boomers weathered the storm and got through it. We will be the better for it.

Exum is a bit of a walking injury and I am yet to see a game where there hasn't been an injury scare with him. But it's because he plays with wreckless abandon and doesn't seem think about what he does. "Oh, three defenders at the ring? How about I drive straight into them and throw something random up?"

He seriously lacks poise. He can get to the rim. He has a good first step. He's good defensively. But he plays a bit like a chicken with its head cut off.

" If Nigeria had even shot the ball half decent we would have lost. "

Australia's defense a big part of why they shot so poorly, although we cant claim credit for whatever they were doing on the free throw line!

"Aussies always struggle against African nations with that type of tall athletic style -"

Yes, struggle in as much as you can struggle while simultaneously winning the game.

They definitely present a unique match up problem but what gets me is, why do we not seem to have these issues with Team USA? We have an easier time getting into our stuff with Team USA in warm ups, as well as (for the past 5 years or so anyway) in our full games. I wonder why that is?

We had an easier time with the USA because they lacked intensity on defense. Made it much easier to run our plays including back cuts etc. Nigeria didn't let up on defense.

Happy to walk away with the W.

Ultimately, that's all that matters.

Smarts and intelligence won the way in the end. About what we should have expected in our big danger group game.

Now handle business against the other two.

^

Yeah I agree with that. Good to get tested, and we got tested. They had the length and athleticism to take us out of our stuff and we passed the test by winning. We will look at what we need to do to counter that and be that much better for it.

We didn't play a super game but I don't see any warning signs to be fair. We're going to be very good once we settle.

Happy for the win, but didn't see anything to make me think we are a medal chance.
We lack bigs.
We still have extended periods where we struggle to have any sort of offence at all.
If Patty doesn't score, we are in trouble.

As usual we will be competitive, but the weaknesses of past campaigns haven't improved.

If the 7+ feed had the proper commentary, I'd agree. But it doesn't.

and delayed.

All in all, not the most polished performance but a 17 pt win over Nigeria is a good result

How can we watch USA vs France?

"Happy for the win, but didn't see anything to make me think we are a medal chance.
We lack bigs.
We still have extended periods where we struggle to have any sort of offence at all.
If Patty doesn't score, we are in trouble."


Well it wasn't a game that I think anyone would watch and go 'oh there's the gold medal favourites' but I think looks can be deceiving.

Nigeria, in their length and athleticism, size and defensive application, are a unique proposition in this tournament. They were able to get us out of our stuff in ways that other teams just aren't physically able to do. Their offense was poor, their defense, very very good.

And still.. we won.

I am not so worried about a lack of scoring options when we are playing a team that is not freakish in the way that team is freakish. The ball will move. We have capable shooters and scorers. It's hard to pass over the D for back cuts when you're playing against a team filled with 5 Mattisse Thybulle type players. Against European teams that wont be an issue.

As for lack of bigs, we're likely going to be a more mobile team against other European temas. But against Nigeria, playing up and down the court plays into their strength. So while being disruptive would help us against Spain, it would probably be more trouble than it's worth against Nigeria.

Anyway, my thoughts on the Boomers medal chances haven't changed after this game. I still think they're basically where they need to be. Offense will need to improve as the tournament progresses but we remain clear favourites to top this pool.

I expect Nigeria is going to give Italy and Germany a lot of trouble as well. Expect Nigeria to pick up a W in at least one of those games.

How about Kay? Every campaign he plays for the Boomers, he seems to up his game further. Is Kay working himself into the starting lineup? Or is he consolidating himself as our backup 5? Is it right that he played more at the 5 than Baynes? I suppose the increased smallball was to counter Nigeria's athleticism, but Kay at the 5 has become an intriguing concept. Might we see Kay closing out games at the 5?

Thybulle was great too. He does so much defensively.

Probably not surprised to see the team leaders in +/- were:

Mills +20
Thybulle +19
Kay +17

Delly played just 16 minutes. Is this load management or a sign of a lesser role? As much as he appears to have regressed, I still feel like he is far better at being the court general compared with anyone else on the team. He managed to go +9 in those 16 minutes, by the way.

Baynes and Landale need to step up against Italy and Germany. They seemed stifled by Nigeria's athleticism.

We seem to be full of role players, except for Mills. Where is our scoring punch outside of Mills? Goulding should have more value against the Euros. It's time for Ingles to step up. 12 shots in this game, which is probablywhat we need from him. We need him to be confident with his shot and shoot freely.

Green will get better with age and experience.
Don't see what Sobey brings though, just shows how different fiba is to nbl where he is a top 5 player.

Next day and still no full match replay available through 7Mate. Not sure the Olympics exist for much reason other than broadcasting rights these days, and it still manages to be poor each time.

Best reply I could find.

https://youtu.be/aYrD_wcWVHo

If you have a smart tv and download 7 plus you can watch most of the sports live as they have a number of channels toview.Currently showing Spain and Korea live in the womens basketball Group A game.

Yeah watching live is fine, would have preferred to have done that but difficult with kids etc. Expected a replay would be available like an hour or so after the game, but in the year 2021 obviously that was crazy of me.

Rjd, I think you'll see Exum step up as a scorer. Against European teams he'll get into the paint, draw fouls, and help create. Wasn't his best night last night but I think he's a very important piece against teams that wont be able to stop him getting where he wants to.

I'd say Exum is capable of that on any given night. But I don't see him as a reliable scorer for us. Production from Exum feels like a bonus, not an expectation.

Well I think we have enough guys who can pop up on their night that there is no need for necessarily one secondary scorer. A few guys can give you that. If you have three-four games averaging 10 a game you dont need one averaging 20

Looking to 2023/24
If Simmons turns up that would be helpful.
Something like this,
Dellavedova out, Simmons in
Sobey out, Giddey in
Baynes out, Humphries in.
Ingles out? , Daniels in.
Goulding out, Vasilijevic in.

Keep Mills for last go round.
Green and Thybulle too.

I've been a long time advocate of Sobey but nothing I've seen so far is convincing me I was right. Giddey should have got his spot.

Still no replay on 7+ for Aus game but full replay for USA V France. Unable to watch live but really no replay only a high lights package.

As much as I hate Seven they aren't to blame for the lack of a Boomers replay on 7plus as the feeds and replays are directly from the IOC with a 7 logo slapped on at the end.

Someone at IOC broadcast HQ obviously couldn't be bothered uploading every replay so took a shortcut by providing the US game thinking that should do it. Lazy.

Perth fan, will Perth have Cotton's citizenship be done by then?

I'm also on the Giddey should've been in the 12 bandwagon. I think his individual defensive deficiencies would've been compensated by his switchability on D. I would also be more confident with Giddey with the ball in his hands compared with Sobey. Sobey's scoring is potentially much better, but 1) as a 11th/12th man, is that what we need? and 2) Sobey seems out of his depth (again) at this level.

No, it's definitely channel 7 being lazy and not making the replays available. It took them 4 hours to put the replay for the Aussies winning the 4x100 yesterday (and that was the only event uploaded on the day). NBC in the US had it on their platform immediately.

7plus also have the Aussie commentary version uploaded as a mini so they clearly have the ability to do it, they're just choosing not to.

This sucks for me because all of the Boomers prelim games are on a time when I cannot watch them live and if this continues I won't be able to watch them at all.

Write in and complain. There's an article out now that has helped express people's frustrations so "maybe" Channel 7 start acting right soon. maybe.

Worth everyone taking a moment to complain. It's inexcusable.

https://support.7plus.com.au/hc/en-au/requests/new

Shared.

Thanks RJD

I've complained on every platform I can find and copper the whinger tag. I don't mind if it gets us somewhere

Would think so Peter but hard to see Cotton being picked over Thybulle.

At least complaining should in theory work then and alert Seven they need to upload missing replays they haven't pushed through which the IOC has made available. They obviously are not as proactive as NBC which doesn't surprise me. The free to air networks in Australia are downright awful.

VPNing to NBC could be a good workaround option for replays.

Cotton will only play in the qualifiers, Asia Cup etc when the NBA guys are in the middle of their season and we send an NBL all star team suited up as the Boomers. Matisse has shown his shot is decent and shooting is something all players not named Simmons can improve, his defense however is not teachable

So unless we find the same loophole Nigeria have Cotton will only suit up when Matisse is not.

Cotton is definitely a no brainer when we field our NBL Boomers line ups and should always be in consideration for the major tournaments. You never know what happens with injury and availability.

The 7 digital support people are response at least, I'll give them that. But I hold out little hope after they "passed the comments to the relevant team"

#630 I don't know how you could leave out a Vasiljevic if healthy. Another Goulding but with a wider variety of moves.

Full replay up now

Giddey would be like a young foal out there. It would be turnover city against top international guards. Not to say he is not going to be a great player in a couple of years but he has to grow into his body. Yes he could have gone along for the experience but he would not be making a significant contribution.

I really hope that Sam Froling keeps improving as Reath, Humphries and Landale haven't earned the same kind of trust that we had in Andersen, Bogut and Baynes and it feels like a weakness in our squad moving forward.

As for Vasiljevic, yep throw him in there if he's healthy as I love his game and excited to see what sort of player he will become in 3 years time

The 7plus commentary for the Boomers v Nigeria game was fuckn woeful. I was hoping for the Gaze et. al overdub but nope.
But I guess the commentary matched the quality of the game. What a horrible looking win. I hope the boys gel better this time, there were awesome glimpses from time to time. They can do so much better and they'll need to. Go lads.