If nz finish higher, we are left with nbl players up against euroleague players in qualifiers.

Yeah and if it does comes down to that the worst thing of all will be those international scrubs either mumbling or not singing our national anthem.

PW haha.

Hopefully we play Spain if it comes down to who sings the most words of the national anthem.

Is most words sung one of the tiebreakers?

Better than a boundary countback.

Geez NZ looking ok

NZ are good but keep fading in second halves due to lack of depth.

Greek exploding, starting with their bench. NZ looking a lot better than I gave credit

Fiba RTR.

You can't help but like this NZ team.

Agreed. Nice 1st half

If NZ progresses, what next?

It is still based on overall finish, although NZ losing tonight makes it clear cut since they would be relegated to the 17-32 classification group rather than in the top 16 with us.

It's turned into a dog fight of a game. NZ hanging tough

Good night nz.

Not yet.

Hello Paris.

Just running out of time, don't win games with 20 turnovers unfortunately.

Was hoping NZ could hang on, but Paris is a nice silver lining I guess so I'm not too devastated.

Everyone is wasting there time, no one is getting past Canada or USA

Even after winning billions with all those can't-miss sports bets, Jacket still makes time to pop in and say hi to us common folk. It's very sweet :)

Just not enough depth nz, bench is nbl1 standard, good effort though.

LOL you all think Aus is going to get past Canada and or USA?

Greece isn't what it used to be.

I really feel for NZ.

Great nightcap though. If only more of the group stage games were this competitive.

Paris 2024. "That's hot."

Tell you who's hot, Shea Ili.

Loving this, hopefully no more concussions.

Bodes very well for United's season too.

Man, what an effort by NZ. Just got sloppy in the possession game in the second half and gave Greece too many looks at it. That's fatigue from their lack of depth. Also a very bad time for Le'afa to have a stinker, they needed him to hit some shots to take the pressure off Ili.

Still, a good tournament so far from the TBs, hopefully they can finish it off well and make sure they're in the OQT next year.

Credit to NZ. They played extremely well.

Still baffled by Fotu's playing minutes. Only 11 mins last night.

He was a legit NBA draft prospect at one point and I suspected he would be their star player

Cheers to NZ...

PARIS SQUAD
6'0 88 Mills SG
6’6 95 Exum PG + SF + SG
6’6 00 Green SF + SG
6’7 97 White PF + SF
6’8 02 Giddey PG
6’8 95 Cooks PF + C
6’10 96 Simmons PF + PG + C
6’11 96 Reath C + PF
6’11 95 Landale C
+1 SG/PG
+1 SF/SG
+1 any position

In the mix
6’0 92 Cotton* SG
6’2 97 Vasiljevic SG
6’5 98 Mcdowell-White PG
6’5 04 Proctor PG + SG
6’5 97 Thybulle* SF
6’6 02 Galloway SF + SG
6’7 03 Daniels SG + PG + SF
6’8 87 Ingles SF + PG
6’9 95 Pinder C + PF
7’0 97 Maker C + PF

No for me
6’4 88 Goulding SG
6’9 92 Kay PF + C

I think Australia need scoring options - I know people like to consider players that "can shoot if open" as scorers but that doesn't apply in practicality.

That’s reflective of moments where Boomers go cold for substantial minutes at a time, who can be the circuit breaker? Usually that’s Mills for us.

Or, who can help break a zone by demanding defensive attention from the perimeter? Again, Mills gets that kind of attention but if you’re the other side and have to pick your poison, you’re pretty happy to bank on the others as not being punishing threats from deep.

That’s what makes the lack of Goulding have any non-junk time minutes a little strange. They are so adamant to be flexible and athletic, they’re willing to not go with a scoring threat.

But I guess if you have no real intention of using a specific role, might as well go with someone else.

I think Simmons and Landale bring in enough size and bulk that I’d be less stressed than this WC.

Giddey is a somewhat issue - he’s not a PG. Simmons not having an inkling of perimeter shooting also means they probably shouldn’t play them on at the same time for very long.

I’d go with:

C Landale/Reath
F Simmons/Ingles/Cooks
F Green/Thybulle
G Mills/Goulding
G Giddey/Exum/Daniels

Where obviously they’d shift spots a fair bit, Goulding would still be that 11th man, not “backup SG”. I’d happily see Exum play alongside Giddey for example.

"Tell you who's hot, Shea Ili. Loving this, hopefully no more concussions. Bodes very well for United's season too."


New Zealand are +7 in Ili's 87 minutes (inlcuding break-even against the USA) and -35 in the other 38. Tells the story.

The ingles at pf is always a head scratcher for me... he doesn't have the strength to compete in that position, he cannot rebound, he cannot box out and he is not fit enough to move constantly from post to perimeter. Most of his work is done around the arch except for the occasionally dribble drive.
He’s can shoot well when open. He’s either a wing or a facilitator.

Same for me weedy but Aus used to play wortho at PF back in the day, France plays Batum at PF so I think it's kinda relevant contextually

Batum plays sf, yabusele plays pf..

We have seen them use Ingles at PF recently...

You can argue they're mostly positionless if you want, like Giddey is more a 3 than a 1 alas

Batum slides to the 4 when yabusele subs out...

Still a full season before Olympics, Pinder was a bust a couple seasons back, it can change quickly, let's see who puts there hand up and who can stay healthy. Guys like Hunter, Humphries, Moller, ( I’ve always liked him ) WMW if they stay healthy could add something. Let’s hope there is time for a decent camp to do a proper selection on form and trials.

"LOL you all think Aus is going to get past Canada and or USA?"

I get sick of these arrogant tall poppy takes with people stating the obvious as though it were their own personal brain wave. How many games have the Boomers won in their history where some snobby cunt has gone "oh you think you're going to beat them do ya? huh? huh?" Yeah, we know they're the underdog. It seems incredibly unsporting to only accept games that you're expected to win and give up on teams unless they're the overwhelming favourites at everything. I know people who were Boomers fans two years ago falling off the wagon and slagging the team off for one loss. ONE LOSS. They're version of this is "ha! We're not beating Luka!" and if we beat Luka, it'll be the next thing to talk shit about. I've been critical of the team but I've not been posting arrogant anti-Boomers bullshit everywere like a lot of the people I personally know. So dude, you're not a know it all. We get it. They're underdogs. But only an idiot with no sporting spirit would think the fans and the team should just pack it up just because they're not the favourites anymore.

Me it's the great thing about sports, it’s called the uncertainty of outcome. That’s why we love it, because you just never know!

That Jacket character used to regularly post in NBL game threads constantly shitting on the standard of NBL games. I think he appeared on here soon after the Boomers vs Philippines fight game.

@ME Jacket used to troll bagging everything about NBL just to get a reaction, looks like they are desperate for attention again so thought it would be a good idea to bag the Boomers on an Aussie website. I bet they wish they could dribble a basketball half as good as they can dribble shit.

Everyone who supports the Boomers no doubt felt like giving them both barrels aswell, but they don't deserve your energy.

Your posts in this WC have been first class so keep them coming

That Jacket character used to regularly post in NBL game threads constantly shitting on the standard of NBL games
_____

Yeah thats right, he constantly crapped on about the 3 point shooting.
Nothing but criticism.
Now he re-appears with another groundbreaking insight.
Best to ignore him

How a Philo basketball fan would have the gall to say anything basketball related is beyond me - their team is winless and has looked only marginally better than absolute shit all tournament. They finished 32nd last time. They turned a Boomers match against our C squad into a boxing match because they couldn't do the whole ball in the net thing with us. Even if the Boomers have a pretty average tournament here, and bow out at 8th at the world cup, that will still be a higher achievement than anything Gilas will ever do for the next 100 years, and you can quote me on that.

Why have team USA brought out a 4th string team, not even that to this tournament?
Where is Giannis?
This tournament is an after thought.

Jackets right, the NBA MVP hasn't even decided what team he’s gonna play for

Why have team USA brought out a 4th string team, not even that to this tournament?
Where is Giannis?
This tournament is an after thought.