Gonna be cracker, would expect Kay and probably Magnay to get the majority of time on Giannis.

Given there's no way we can have McVeigh on him, I wonder if it forces some two-centre lineups from us.

Double Giannis and make his life a living hell and we win easy

Magnay is too slow for giannis, I'd be happy with Daniels guarding him from half way, double him in the post. You have to pick up giannis before half court and not let him get a head of steam. It’s that athleticism and length on drives that make him tough. If he’s shooting jump shots over an opponent, you’ve done well.

Odds are AUS 1.43 GRE 3.30.

I am both confident and nervous about this one.

I am having flashbacks to the game against Slovenia at last year's World Cup

Yep, should get this but it's going to be very tough. I’m nervous already.

Would think this is probably one of, or the most important game of Nick Kay's career so far?

On a ship sailing from Shanghai heading to Japan. Connected to ships internet. Using my VPN set to Canada. Cant get the live steam to load to see if I can watch the Japan Brazil game.

Getting nervous that I wont get a stream.

9 now tells me I'm out if Australia despite setting my VPN to AU.

Might have to rely on you guys plus live stats.

Huge game ahead.

All good. CBC working. Kay v Giannis. Nescafe will be excited.

Maker might of come in handy for this game...

"Would think this is probably one of, or the most important game of Nick Kay's career so far?"

Not even close. He's played in multiple quarter finals, semi-finals and bronze medal games, including winning a bronze.

Urgent request: If watching in a pub will the game be on channel 9?

Anonymightymouse I meant in terms of individual responsibility, but point taken

Kay killed 4 times already.

Great start Magnay

Is Josh Green unplayable right now? Really hoping he offers something at the offensive end soon.

Refs carrying Australia as best they can

FIBA headquarters have moved to Sydney.

Refs HQ in Spain remember

Decent first quarter, we've missed 5 three throws.

Walkup hitting shots for them.

Magnay been really disruptive so far, like his minutes. Looks like a lot of minutes with Green/Exum etc at the 4, rather than Kay.

Overall we've been better, but not showing on the score board.

AUS 24-25 GRE

Josh Green's shooting confidence is sub-zero.

Free throws*

Josh turned from a 3 and D guy to just a D guy.

We can keep this pace up better than Greece. Giannis looked pretty gassed when he went off.

Josh turned from a 3 and D guy to just a D guy.

We can keep this pace up better than Greece. Giannis looked pretty gassed when he went off.

Dubious call on Giddey but Giannis is getting his NBA calls so far

Green bad both ends at present, I thought refs been very fair, Magnay and Landale been very solid. McVeigh playing clever, a quality Roth has taught him.

9-0 start to the second for the Greece...

Fkin hell...

This is all very disappointing.

It was always a complete fallacy to think that Greece was a one man team.
This was never going to a case of simply contain Giannis and we win

These turnovers are absolutely disgusting.

We're cooked.

Why must we persist with the dumb idea that Giddey is a point guard and why is he allowed to dribble?

I don't get it. It makes ZERO sense.

Gone, Giddey turnovers, can't score, miss free throws.

Sense of urgency and intensity has been poor.

Some ball movement would be good. A kick up pass and we score.

Turned into the Opals

Nothing has been learned from the World Cup.

Plus half the country are now tuning in after the NRL ended serving as a lead-in and it's this performance. What a wasted opportunity.

Fiba moved to Greece

Ridiculous...

Giddey & Mills are getting torched.

That was a tough call on Mags. I thought he had established position

Put a fork in us

I wonder what the Boomers would've been like if they had Goulding, Cooks or Thybulle instead of Ingles and Kay....

A team with poor athletic ability

Turned into the Opals

I thought we were hanging out hat on our defence?

" A team with poor athletic ability"

Are you saying Ingles and Kay are more athletic than Thybulle, Cooks, Goulding?

Are you a piss taker?

No offence.

Poor coach. Poor team selection.

Not ruling out a comeback but looking highly unlikely.

Is it time to start crying and claim Giannis is trans?

They are running two 6'11" guys and killing us on the board, maybe just maybe we should run two bigs.

Dam we look bad...
Even players that would normally give 100% have been shockingly lazy.

I didn't see your comment.

Exum dayammmmmmm

Not athletic enough, can't make shots. Go slow it down and get good shots, make Greece work on D.

Too big, too strong, too mobile and they get their three point shooters clear shots. As for the turnovers .......

@KET - I didn't see your comment.

Mills is killing us in the 2nd quarter.

Ah I was confused.

Neither Giddey nor Mills are helpful, they both must be off

We are shit but wow Greece are playing well, much better than their first two games.

Down 17 at the half. Massive amount of work to do.

We are about to find out what these guys have in them.

Goorjian knew who we were playing well before team was selected. Who was going to match up on Giannis.
Shit planning, but then again maybe Joe Biden forgot who played for Greece. Also can't believe no Delly, Inglis or Reath.

Goorjian is cooked. What a waste of two majors.

Why did we lose to Canada? Patty Mills

Who was the worst player in the first quarter today? Daniels & Giddey
Who was the worst player in the second quarter today? Patty Mills

I don't think Greece is doing anything exceptional. Boomers have just sucked at both ends. Lack of ball movement, lack of intensity, playing slow to help Greece.

Poor coach. Poor team selection.

Not ruling out a comeback but looking highly unlikely

------

Yes, poor team selection: magnay, Kay are not good enough against top international teams.
The moment they dropped Thybulle I knew they are not going to medal.

Point differential will be crucial here. Need to get it back to 10-16 or ideally less than 9

So frustrating. We should be much better than this. It's been a massive failure and underachievement by everyone involved.

Giddey’s been useless today. Patty has tried but to little effect. Landale disappointing and ineffective. Green and Kay abysmal. Daniels and Exum ok, but it’s not enough. We have no one to score the baskets and no defence. It’s amazing we managed to beat Spain.

Goorgian should be sacked.

What was that Sixers coach comment a few seasons back before he got the arse. Dribbling to much but it was more to the point. Team looks like they have splintered.

2028

Goorj, Kay, Ingles, Delly should have never made the team.
Green, Mills, Magnay, Mcveigh may not make the next one.
The other coaches also have to be let go, they voted to take this roster.

Point differential will be crucial here. Need to get it back to 10-16 or ideally less than 9

-----'

Forget about getting into the next round. This team should just go home

If we step up our offense and actually show up on defence, we can make it a game. This is not the way we've been playing in previous games.

Exum-Daniels-McVeigh-Landale are the only 4 players I have any confidence in since the 2nd half of the Canada game. I hope Reath gets some 2nd half mins, it's time to try something else.

I'd like to see a line up of Landale, Reath, Green, Daniels, Exum this half.

At least we'd have some perimeter defence and the offence wouldn't be any worse than the second quarter.

If we can play a bit bigger, sliding McVeigh to the 3 instead of the 4 in his minutes, that'd be helpful also.

So who can do it?

Mills is no help in defense, so if he can't score efficiently he's just a NBL player.

These halftime performers are super basic

As if Inglis would make the difference. Please. This is a wholesale collapse. No bench player is saving us.

Agree i'd like to see starting the half: Landale, Reath, Green, Daniels, Exum. Won't happen though.

Regarding Mills. Part of me wants him benched and not sighted again for the game. The other part of me thinks that our best chance of winning is FIBA-Patty.

When you have a bunch of wings that can't knock it down that’s why you have three point specialists like Goulding on the team and why you *use them*

When you know you’re going against Giannis that’s why you pick your bigs carefully and don’t waste roster spots on players that shouldn’t be on the team.

When you know you’re playing the international game and you have turnover prone players that’s why you prepare your game style to not be turnover prone!

What annoys me is we are failing in thr simple areas. I mean how about a few passes and some off the ball movement maybe?

Magnay has done well, McVeigh probably our best, Exum , Landale having a go, Giddey, Green, Kay, Mills poor.

Whose coaching these guys when they're growing up? Why can nobody shoot or create their own shot??

Can't hit a barn wall and not generating offense out of the defense = -17

A few box outs would help as well.

How's this NBA squad going? A bunch of bench scrubs, that’s what they are

I'm tipping a comeback. But I'm also drinking free booze somewhere in the South China Sea.

I'm tipping a comeback. But I'm also drinking free booze somewhere in the South China Sea.

Kay with the airball from 2 feet

Greece's scores in first half:
vs Canada 38pts
vs Spain 35pts
vs Australia 53 pts

We need to get bigger, quicker, more mobile, more athletic

Proctor
Thybulle
Galloway
Siulepa
Furphy
Travers
White
Cooks
Pinder
unfortunately Simmons.
Zikarsky
Etc

We need big shooters but we don't have many...
Hopefully we see some pop up.

Kay with the airball from 2 feet

--------

A few posters here said he is a quality player and the best PF we have . LOL

They need Delly or Ingles on to run the offence

I have a question for Kay's fans. Do you still think he is doing well?

Oh hey maybe this Reath guy who was one of our best in the lead up to Paris can play

Reath only gets court time when we are losing badly. Fuck you goorjian

We need someone to catch fire. Reath is not a bad stretch option here. I'm surprised he came in so late.

Kay can't block, but Reath can block.

Goorjian deserves to go out on this performance.

I don't care if we don't finish third.

Our strategy is to lose by a certain amount to purposely avoid the US in the Qtrs

It's okay if you lose the game today. Just don't use Kay and Patty until the game ends.

And everyone else in the Qtrs

It's Delly time

Reath in about 1 min has shown goorj is cooked.

Stick with this lineup

Patty and Kay are not helpful to the team in defense. Please do not use them.

Delly should have been subbed on in the 3rd quarter against Canada

Mills can stay off

Reath has killed our momentum. Landale missing multiples layups hasn't helped either. Terrible.

Reath in about 1 min has shown goorj is cooked.

‐-------
Its not just Reath.
Thon and Thybulle should be in this team instead of Kay and magnay. Brian has no clue

These lineups are gettin weird.

We in striking distance of -9.

Reath +9

Kay -18


Delly +5

Mills -16

Landale misses several easy shots plus 4 free throws.

8 from 17 free throws overall. Players have to take some responsibility.

-7...

Boomers at least have increased their defensive intensity and are generating some offensive looks. Pity they cant hit the side of a barn

Ref's with several questionable calls. Am I the only one who thinks Antetokounmpo's getting a whole lot of NBA superstar calls?

We need to full court press from the beginning of Q4. Keep Delly on.

Reath made that awesome block, but then single handedly butchered 3 attacking plays in a row.

Giannis wasn't getting these callsin Greece's other games. Not the reason for the deficit though.

Reath +9

Kay -18


Delly +5

Mills -16

@rjd I was thinking the same thing about the calls

Delly was grear

Not Mills now. Go with what worked

Get Mills off

Oh shit back to starting 5

Many missed opportunities

Patty is killing us.

Thats BS

Magnay-Kay frontcourt at this point of the game, nice.

Get Mills off

Mills off & Delly on please

I'll take 7 point deficit with 7 minutes to go

Is Goorj watching the same game as us?

If Mills isn't scoring i'd have Delly on for his tenacity and smarts any day of the week

Come on. Don't live the coaching but think these guys have a bit in them.

turnover

Ok maybe keep Patty on now

Mills gets it to within four.

Wtf Kay just shoot the damned ball

Should have just laid it up, plenty of time left. Sigh.

Kay n Magnay...

The two ayes aye.

Kay's stupid decision

Greece do look worried.

Nescafe just spit out his Blend 43.

Great fightback boys!

Omg that was it! Wtf was Giddey doing? That killed us.

Greece's shooting has returned to the mean, but our offense still shakey as hell

Kay, lol. Can't even dunk.

Second half vs. Canada
First half vs. Greece

Why do we brain fade so badly?

Second half vs. Canada
First half vs. Greece

Why do we brain fade so badly?

Should have just laid it up, plenty of time left. Sigh.

---‐---
Dunkman and BidD think he is a quality player. LOL

Yeah, the no layup was fucked up.

Glad we've got Kay back out there

Embarassing

AUSTRALIA think this defeat should be enough. LOL.

We still in. Atm.

Oh Patty played, Ingles didn't. Bullshit rumours

If we hit our freethrows we would have won that game

Showed some fight but looked flat from the start. Hit more free throws and play better D in the first half and it would be a win

Canada just got to beat Spain.

Glad we've got Kay back out there
-----

He should never have been in this team.

Not great but all lessons.

Either way we are through as second place unless Canada have a meltdown.

Hopefully we have learned what works and what doesn't from that game. We need to be what we were in the second half of Greece and first half of Canada and we will have no problems.

Sad that it's come to this where Spain can screw us over once again.

Hopefully that gets us into the quarters.
Free throws cist us that game.
Still believe that these guys can knock over anyone apart from the USA.

So if Canada win by any score, we finish second? That would be more than we deserve, but I'd take it.

Spain to win by 10 then.

During the clutch time in the 4th quarter, Kay made a stupid decision.

Delly sparked that comeback. Needs to play more.

We finish 3rd and go through

Spain win = we're eliminated.

It's that simple.

Missed free throws cost boomers big time. Played poorly but only lost by six.
@ Nescafé I've always said the Kay is not my favourite player, but when he does well I don’t bag him, he could hit the winner and you would still say his shit.
Fiba Patty is long gone, Magnay, Londale very serviceable, Daniel’s, Delly, ok, Exum to iso, Giddey turnovers.

We can't finish second because Greece have the head-to-head win over us.

Best finish is third with a Spain defeat. Worst fourth.

Yes if Canada wins we are in and no worse off. We get our shit together and finally see FIBA Patty and a green that can shoot we can do this.

Oh didn't realise the head to head issue. Damn we could be facing USA in qtrs

If I'm not mistaken:

-If Canada beat Spain we'll undeservingly finish 2nd and avoid a USA match up in quarter.
-If Spain beat Canada we'll finish 3rd and more than likely clinch an 8th seed.

So we'll probably progress, it's a hollow af feeling.

I've always said the Kay is not my favourite player, but when he does well I don't bag him, he could hit the winner and you would still say his shit.

When was Kay's best moment? 2019 and 2021. Five years ago and three years ago.
He's a player with poor athletic ability but a good basketball IQ. But his prime time is over. He's no longer agile, slow, and can't score. Today, he made a fatal and poor decision in the clutch time of the fourth quarter.

Fortunately, and despite that first half, our points difference is slightly superior to Brazil's (by 3).

We suck.

No we finish 3rd as 1 of 2

Perth world- incorrect. As long as Canada win, we will finish 2nd. Point differential is used ahead of head-to-head.

We currently cannot finish 3rd.

It's only 2nd if Canada win and 4th if Spain win.

We now either finish 2nd or 4th in the group, depending on the result in a few hours. Get ready to support the hell out of Canada folks!

Top 2 per group + best 2 3rd place teams.

AUS can only finish third (with a CAN win) or fourth (with a ESP win). It's that simple.

We are not going to medal. We have too many unathletic players who can't defend, too many old players who are past their use by date, plus a coach who don't know how to select the best players.

Incorrect again Perthworld. FIBA literally published an article explaining every permutation.

Because we lost by less than 9 points, it's either 2nd if Canada win or 4th if Spain win.

Head to head on fiba, differential on wiki.

Best case: Canada win and we draw Germany or France
Middle case: Canada win and we draw USA
Worst case: Canada lose and we are out

Alrighty then.

I'm looking at a table with Greece ahead of us by virtue of head-to-head. Pardon me for using a shit source.

Good news if we can still finish second... somehow.

FIBA, ESPN and NBL have all published the same possibilities, and they all say the same thing:

2nd if Canada win

4th if Canada lose.

As long as Canada beats Spain, we make QF and it'll likely be Serbia, France or Germany. We beat France and Serbia in warm up games, and lost to Germany by 2 or 3 last year. Still absolutely in this.

Our half-court offense needs either Giddey or Patty going off, otherwise it's mediocre and stagnant. Ingles could help there, but not sure its worth gaining his offense compared to what we'd lose defensively.

Why would head-to-head with only Greece matter? If Canada win, it's a 3 way tie with Australia, Greece and Spain. Then surely it must go to +/- for tied teams results, right?


+6 Aus = +12 vs Spain, -6 vs Greece
-1 Greece: +6 vs Aus, -7 vs Spain
-5 Spain =+7 vs Greece, -12 vs Aus

This would be some comeuppance for Australia to eliminate Spain.

Per olgun.

If Canada wins, all of AUS, ESP, GRE would be 1-2. The head-to-head is even, so it comes down to points differential in games between those three teams (AUS +6, ESP -5, GRE -1), putting AUS in 2nd in the group.
• If Spain wins, then they move to 2-1; AUS and GRE are 1-2. GRE wins that head-to-head, so they're 3rd and AUS would finish 4th.

Wherever you look, it's a different scenario. Go with fiba.

If Canada beat Spain we are locked in a 3 way tie with Spain and Greece at 1-2 each.

We would finish 2nd with superior percentage would we not?

If Spain wins we are in a two way tie with Greece for third and they go through on H2H.

Have I got that right?

Ok well that's good news. Possibly the best case scenario for a team that has a terrible start.

Let’s go Canada.

Boomers can no longer finish 3rd, it's only 2nd or 4th.

If Spain lose then they, Aus and Greece all tie on 1-2. It then comes down to points differential in the games between those sides, which puts us into second place:

Aus +6
Greece -1
Spain -5

The Spaniards are fighting for their lives tonight. That said, if Canada lose and fall to 2nd I think they could draw the USA in the QFs so they have a lot to play for too.

I think you'll find Canada will not wont to lose because that’ll mean they’ll face the US before the final which is a scenario they do not want to do

So in summary we need to get into a threesome with some Euros (no homo) thanks to some Canadians.

No worries PW. Just trying to clarify.

Cant believe ill be cheating for Dillon Brooks tonight

Never have I wanted Canada to win anything as much as I do now.

Assuming Canada win. Who do we want: Serbia, Germany or France?

France have not been good.

"We finish 3rd and go through"

We can finish 2nd still on points for/against

"Spain win = we're eliminated."

Doubt that happens but we probably deserve it on the back of that performance. That was up there with some of the worst basketball I've seen this team ever play. All this iso, no off the ball movement, dribbling straight into defenders. It makes you wonder what is being taught in Australian basketball where we can play that badly as a team. All the fundamentals went out of the window in that game and the only reason we fought back into it is because Greece aren't actually that good.

The only explanation I have for that game is they all had gastro because the energy and intent was off from the jump.

Ok great to get that clarification.

Have a feeling Spain will win and end us.

Canada can also lose to Spain. How many people expected the Boomers to lose to Greece?

Green only 4 minutes

All these permutations for getting out of the pool stage and potential quarter final opponents have me feeling like we're being sandwiched by a lot of European men.

"Canada can also lose to Spain. How many people expected the Boomers to lose to Greece?"

True but Canada don't have Goorj coaching them. They're a much safer bet.

Green had a genuine shocker tonight. Still has not scored a single point in this Olympics. For the people saying we should of brought Thybulle, why don't you have a look at Josh Green instead of Nick Kay (who actually wasn't bad tonight).

France have been shit so far, but home cooking/fans a major factor in a semi final.

True but Canada don't have Goorj coaching them. They're a much safer bet.

Good point

Green isn't getting the opportunity/minutes that Kay is being afforded.

Looking at all the common factors in our losses - turnovers, stagnant offence, poor individual defence and poor shot selection, one player comes under each theme - Patty Mills.

really think it's time to send Patty to the bench, give him 15mins and if he has it going then by all means 25mins+ plus, if not, then like Green tonight he should be playing single digit minutes.

Just is a black hole on the court if he isn't hitting shots.

Also... at least Dyson Daniels hasn't done his ACL which I thought looked likely for a second there.

Where would we be without him? 11pts/8ast/6reb, and 2 big threes in the 4th. Alongside Jock as our team MVP so far IMO.

Green was poor at both ends tonight, most the nba guys are struggling, it's a total different game to fiba. Daniel’s been very reasonable though, Giddily has his moments but turn overs been bad.

"Looking at all the common factors in our losses - turnovers, stagnant offence, poor individual defence and poor shot selection, one player comes under each theme - Patty Mills.

really think it's time to send Patty to the bench, give him 15mins and if he has it going then by all means 25mins+ plus, if not, then like Green tonight he should be playing single digit minutes.

Just is a black hole on the court if he isn't hitting shots."

----------------------------------------------

I agree 100%. I have been arguing the same thing you said for the past few months and have been getting a lot of flak.

Will goorj continue with Kay...

"Nick Kay (who actually wasn't bad tonight)."

What? He was horrible. Maybe his worst game as a Boomer, even worse than that Germany WC game when he got abused on the perimeter over and over again.

3/8 from the field, did nothing on Giannis and his turning down an open lay up may have cost the game.

But yes, Josh Green has not been the player at FIBA level that it feels like he should be. It's very disappointing.

Fair play PTGM, I've disagreed with you on Patty as well.

I also think with Patty off then that allows Kay/Duop/McVeigh (three guys who are questionable defensively at the 4) to play with a lot more freedom and insurance with our stronger athletic wings.

Canada and Germany and France margins will sure up where the qtr finals pots will go as you can't face the same team from your pool in qtrs.

They will all want second top team overall ( to USA) as third top spot will put them in a pot that faces the second teams instead of the third. There is a situation where if Germany win by a more considerable margin including their current + pt differential then I think it would force the pots for us to play France. But I think Canada will pump Spain anyway leading us back to a likely Germany/France/Serbia qtr.

Still likely Serbia or France if Canada beats Spain.

Josh Green

2023 Worldcup - 5 GP / 19.5 MIN / 8.2 PTS (FG 52% - 2PT 57.1% - 3PT 45.5% - FT 76.9%) / 2 REB / 1.4 AST / 1.6 STL / 0.4 TOV / 1.8 PF

Green has become a completely different player.

Goorjian < ?

Mills < ?
Dellevedova < ?
Exum
Green < ?
Daniels
Giddey
Mcveigh < ?
Ingles < ?
Kay < ?
Reath
Magnay < ?
Landale

A lot of people here like Kay's play.

Because there are a lot of Perth fans here.

Nick Kay

3GP / 22.7 MIN / 6 PTS (FG 42.1% , 2P 57.1% , 3P 0%) / 3.3 REB / 0.3 AST / 1.3 STL / 0.3 TOV / 2 PF / -0.7

Why is he overrated?

The Patty threating to drop out if ingles isnt in the team rumours just seem to fkn true to me man

Completely off topic and utterly irrelevant, but I found it surprising that the Greeks were being coached in English. Their coach is Greek and all their players are from Greece bar one naturalised American who's spent many years over there.

Walkup isn't Greek.

The most likely quarter finals are.

Boomers v Serbia
USA v Brazil
Germany v Greece
Canada v France

If Canada win, it will be Spain who come 3rd in our group not Greece. So Greece won't be in a quarter final unless Spain win and we aren't playing.

Patty Mills

3GP / 29.4 MIN / 13.3 PTS (FG 35.1% - 2P 30% - 3P 41.2%) / 2 REB / 1.3 AST / 1.3 STL / 3.7 TOV / 2.3 PF / -7


Why are the Boomers losing? It's because of Patty Mills.

He's playing 30 minutes. He's a SG. He doesn't have any assist ability. But he's recording a lot of turnovers and his shooting efficiency is terrible.
He's also the worst defender in the Boomers. Because Patty's defense is so bad, his teammates have no choice but to help him. He's tried gamble defense many times and failed. The opposing team easily gets open chances.

I've noticed a fair few teams coaches coaching in English and their national language, a bit of each.

"Walkup isn't Greek“

Yep and just realised Calathes is also American. Explains it.

"Walkup isn't Greek“

Yep and just realised Calathes is also American. Explains it.

Santi Aldama and Rudy Fernandez remain game-time decisions ahead of the crucial matchup vs. Canada

Head coach Sergio Scariolo confirmed both players are not 100% ready due to injuries:


Probably means they will score 25 each.

Sorry I got that wrong about Greece - apparently if Serbia beat South Sudan tomorrow by at least 3, Greece will qualify. Regardless of Spain/Canada result

This game highlights the need for Australia to go through a tougher qualifying process, with its actual Olympic roster - because that's the best way to play together under pressure in games that matter like tonight.

The pressure of this game completely threw us out of our execution on both ends of the floor.

Warm up games against a Chinese under 21 team are a utterly inadequate preperation.

We would've been better playing warm up games against Latvia, Croatia, Italy, Finland......etc

Despite the betting odds, and popular memes of it being a one-man team, Greece were never going to be easy-beats.
Having said that, as other's have mentioned, if we'd simply shot better from the line, and not piffed away flippant turnovers, we would've won.

If we get through, our mistakes can be rectified, and I expect they will be.

Knockdown3, we played the USA, France, Serbia and Puerto Rico with our proper team. Doesn't get much tougher than that in lead ups.

Any more and you're just making guys tired before the proper games even begin.

@Olgun

And now, some thoughts on Australia's loss to Greece.

- Australia struggled with Greece’s positional size for much of this one; GRE was switchy and scrambly defensively in the 1st half and AUS were rattled.
- Tale of two halves. Defensive intensity (and more deliberate, balanced lineups) increased a ton in the 2nd half.
- Not sure where this team would be without Dyson Daniels: 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists. Hit a big three and showed his creation down the stretch; he’s been an absolute gamer for the Boomers.
- Boomers shouldn’t expect to go deep in a tournament like this with the turnover issues they’ve had since the beginning: 16 TOV tonight; GRE had 20 points of TOV.
- Single coverage on Giannis didn’t work, obviously. Boomers had way more success sending a ton of bodies at him... obviously.
- There has to be an understanding of the situations Patty Mills can and can’t be effective; against a big team like GRE that consistently targeted him, and with him struggling to create separation for his shot, you probably have to go Exum/Green/Delly instead.
- Speaking of… really important, effective minutes from Matthew Dellavedova: picked up full court, was active, and was a good secondary playmaker next to Giddey.
- Another great one from Jock Landale: 17 points and 8 rebounds. Needs to stay out of foul trouble.
- Coaching staff needs to find a way to revitalize Josh Green; if the Boomers advance, he’s an important athletic point of difference for this team.
- Great 2nd half from Josh Giddey, after a subpar 1st half. Finished with 9-11-6(5 TOV); his full potential at this level is enormously high but hasn’t been unlocked yet, and I’m not sure the personnel exists on this team to do it.

If Spain somehow beat Canada WITHOUT Aldama and Fernandez, I may need to find a new sport to follow because fuck that

Knockdown3, we played the USA, France, Serbia and Puerto Rico with our proper team. Doesn't get much tougher than that in lead ups.

-------------------

The important thing is that they evaluated the players and selected the final roster after watching the meaningless game against China U21.

"Knockdown3, we played the USA, France, Serbia and Puerto Rico with our proper team. Doesn't get much tougher than that in lead ups.

Any more and you're just making guys tired before the proper games even begin."

You're right Max, and I agree in terms of potential burn out from playing to9 many lead-up games.

It's more the qualification process.
All the European teams had to play for their lives just to get to the Olympics against other teams who could've easily been there too.

It might just be a geographical logistics thing, but we're almost always at a disadvantage by not coming through a tough qualification process compared to Euro teams.

We get rattled when the game gets tight, and our opponents often execute way better than us.
(we can probably attribute some of this to the coaching staff, but I don't like laying blame so blatantly)

In any case, we looked like a team that just didn't know what it was doing tonight - similar to the Germany game in the WC - and something about our prep needs to change somehow

"The important thing is that they evaluated the players and selected the final roster after watching the meaningless game against China U21."

Exactly Patty

Fair points then.

Asia Cup, Asia regional qualifiers, Asia U-tournament are not helpful for player development. And NBL is overrated. They just want the USA market.

Canada 11 pts up at the half.

I was willing to give the coaches the benefit of the doubt when we were winning and assume they must know what theyre doing. But when we play so god awfully I assign that responsibility right on the coaches. You can then speculate as to how bad the Thybulle ommission is, and if we cant even play Joe Ingles, why the hell is he there?

Question: could the drama around the patty ultimatum/thybulle have fucked the team leading into this game?

Not sure why there's so much confusion regarding the placings. It’s very simple. If Canada wins by any score, we finish 2nd on points differential. If Spain wins by any score, we finish 4th on head to head against Greece. 3rd is impossible.

If Spain lose by 3 points or less, they go through in 3rd. If they lose by more than 3 Greece overtakes them on differential and goes through with us.

The biggest thing for me is its going to be 3 years til the next major tournament. Its gonna suck if we crash and burn and suck so hard here and have to wait that long to rebuild.

"Sorry I got that wrong about Greece - apparently if Serbia beat South Sudan tomorrow by at least 3, Greece will qualify. Regardless of Spain/Canada result"

That's wrong. Greece can still finish last in the group, but only if Spain loses by 3points or less.

Patty Mills

2023 World cup - 5GP / 31.5 MIN / 18.6 PTS (FG 47.3% - 2P 53.5% - 3P 38.7%) / 5.2 REB / 5 AST / 1.6 STL / 3 TOV / 1.8 PF / +9.2

2024 Olympics - 3GP / 29.4 MIN / 13.3 PTS (FG 35.1% - 2P 30% - 3P 41.2%) / 2 REB / 1.3 AST / 1.3 STL / 3.7 TOV / 2.3 PF / -7

Patty is one of the best Boomers players of all time.
That's why many people don't criticize him when he messes up the team. Instead, they criticize other players.
Why on earth?
It's true that he was the best player, but even so, he is currently a starter for the Boomers and plays 30 minutes. And he used his reputation to change the roster.
Team sports come with responsibility.
If someone messes up the team, they should be criticized.
Whoever it was.

Mills -16 and -11 in two losses (losses of -10 and -6 respectively), and +6 in a win (a +12 win). On these stats alone, it suggests he over-contributes to losses and under-contributed to the win. His defense, turnovers and hero-ball fadeaways have been questionable. With our lack of scoring power, is it just a case of the Boomers needing someone out there willing to launch shots and put points on the board? Or a step further, hat we need FIBA Patty to show up to win?

Remember in 2021 when Delly fell out of the rotation? Goorj has cut out senior players minutes before. It will be interesting to see if Mills remains the 28+mpg player that Goorj has been playing him.

I was wrong. Greece cannot finish 4th. If Spain lose by any score, they're out. If Spain wins, we’re out. Greece finishes 3rd regardless of the result.

thomas walkup when asked by a reporter about his defense on patty mills

patty mills? more like, "12 krabby patty meals for me and my teammates please"

Yep that's what I wrote as well... Greece relying on a Serbia win against South Sudan to qualify as the second 3rd place team alongside Brazil.

Canada up by 8 with a 1/4 to go.

Thon or Cooks > Kay

Spain comin back, within 5.

Canada up by 4 with 2 mins to go.

I swear I am going to burn down Madrid if they pull this off. Lift your game you damn Canucks!

Spain within 3. It feels sickening that Spain could eliminate us.

Barrett! You beauty.

Up by 5 with 30 secs left.

Up by 1 with 3 secs left.

Sga to the ft line with 2 secs left.

88-85 Canada win

Canada win 88-85.

Quarter final time for us lads

Phew. That was much closer than it should've been. Canada is good, but they don’t put you away.

Never in doubt. Gorj a genius for navigating us out of the Pool of death and avoiding Canada/Germany/USA in the quarters.

Spain might still survive as a lucky 3rd place into quarters

edit that, Greece and Brazil likely to get in.

Spain is out. They finished last in the group. Greece most probably goes through as one of the best third places.

In

A
Canada
Australia

B
Germany
France
Brazil

C
USA


2 spots for
Serbia
South Sudan
Greece

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if South Sudan beat Serbia tomorrow (and finish 2nd in that pool), doesn't that mean we will almost certainly play them in our quarter final?

Would be amazing if so, and probably much more favourable Serbia

Eliminated
Spain
Japan
Puerto Rico
And 1 from above.

More ass than class from the Boomers but it's better than being eliminated... I think.

I'm not thrilled with the coaching, but I can accept it given it's the only reason Ben Simmons is playing in this tournament.

Lol

Correct me if I'm wrong but if the final games go as expected we will play France or Serbia. Canada will also play France or Serbia.

Canada, Australia, France and Serbia will be in the same pot. With Australia not being able to play Canada because we were in the same pool.

USA, Germany and the two final third teams will be in the same pot. With of course Germany not being able to play USA.

We absolutely scrapped through with an ideal result. We could have won all three games with the exact same result. Granted if we didn’t win by more margins than USA and Germany did in their pools which is the case for Canada.

I'm not positive how it works but would it be something like this, assuming US and Serbia get decent size wins?

USA (3W over +48) v Brazil (1W -7)
Germany (3W +47) v Greece (1W -8)
Canada (3W +20) v France (2W -2)
Serbia (2W over +15) v Australia (1W -4)

Because USA have already faced Serbia, would that game then be on the other side of the Semis?

How would the semi switch over then work?

Yes but isn't there a random draw element so Australia could have France or Serbia?

I believe this is our scenario:

We will be in Pot F, by virtue of being a lower-ranked second place team, so crossover with Pot E (fading the top two USA* and Canada).

* Assuming they win tonight.

Germany and USA* are the top two now after the former defeated France comfortably overnight.

Got to face them eventually. There are two rules in FIBA/Olympic basketball:

1. Get out of the pool
2. Don't face USA or Canada in the Qtrs.

All you need is a shot at a medal

I think it would be nice to look at what a successful campaign could look like for us from here on. I think if we are able to get a win against France or Serbia in a crossover and make the top four, we can call that a huge success, medal or not. It's clear that this team has some deficiencies and it's all too late now to patch over them all. I thought we were largely really good against Spain and Canada and the question for me now is what team will we see moving forward, the one from those games, or whoever turned up last night? Clearly it's time for Goorjian to think outside of the box and start giving different guys minutes. I think Delly has earned his way into the rotation. I think we need to stop pretending Duop Reath is ass. I think Kay's minutes need to drop. I think we need to run a few sets to give Josh Green the open 3. I think we need to get some sort of movement on offense. Some of this is just basic stuff that any social league player knows to do and yet we see, time and again, the Boomers fail to execute. I've seen stagnant offenses in pro leagues before but never to the extent of last night. Goorjian blamed "hero ball" in an article this morning, and it's correct to say that, but it is on him to fix that. He seems to just let the guys play and not call many time outs but there's a point where you need to give the guys something. I'm not convinced that there's much real coaching going on at all in the Boomers camp, certainly not in the half court. The turnover issues need to be fixed quick-smart if we hope to progress any further, and it's only by some sort of devine intervention that we fight to see another day anyway. Last night's game was really disheartening and they cant just keep doing the same thing now and expecting a different result. Having Patty playing big minutes against taller line ups IS NOT WORKING. Exum needs to be on starters minutes. We need to start looking to a twin towers line up at points. And I am really surprised we've not seen any need for Ingles in these games, given his ability to slow the thing down and get purposeful shots. His newfound mascot role just lends credence to the rumours about Patty threatening to leave if Ingles wasn't selected. I am cautiously hopeful that we've delivered our one stinker of the tournament and hopefully can get back on track. But there's a part of me with an eye beyond this tournament, thinking that what was once so dynamic and special in the 'old guard' of Patty and Ingles has become entirely toxic and that we're going to be better served by the youth on the horizon. 2027 feels like a long time to wait until another major. I just hope that we can do something worth celebrating next week. Last night doesn't necessarily indicate it though...

Completely agree ME.

We went into this campaign with little faith outside Australia that we would make it out of the death pool. Most pundits had Canada, Spain and Greece and the odds reflected that.

We have now exited second from the death pool and will face a team that we have beaten recently with a fully healthy list.

The most important is that we can learn from what you have noted above. We have a fresh start in the qtrs and two wins away from a medal.

Do we not teach these guys how to shoot, how to create shots for themselves??? All we seem to produce lately is multi sport athlete/jumbo guards with major deficiencies. All these guys only excel in transition, which opponents can quite easily prevent.

We don't have any hoopers, guys that can o get a bucket when needed, outside of Mills(old), Jingles(old) and Goulding(still good).

It's their competitive advantage to get in the big league. Athletic shot creators are a dime a dozen in the states.

But yes it would be nice if they were taught those skills also.

If only Bryce cotton was there instead of Joe.

What I will say for this team is that we've got 'decent' results from a team that has shown some pretty major issues. We managed to push Canada and beat Spain without any real production from Green, no shooting from Kay. We've got almost nothing out of the back up big man spots. We've been turning the ball over at an astonishing rate. So the fact that we have mostly competed with some tough competition tells me there are things we're doing very well also. Defensively we stifled Giannis in the second half and kept Greece to 20-something. We fought our way back into the game from 19 down to be within a possession of winning despite shooting horrendously from the foul line, three, and from literally everywhere. And we've done much of this with a completely past-it Patty MIlls getting 30 plus minutes a game. This is what tells me that there could be hope moving forward, for us to have so many issues and yet be right there says to me we're adjustments away from making something click for ourselves. I am not saying we'll do anything special or not. I am just saying that there is scope for improvement still here and scope for better than we've seen so far in the next game. Whether it's enough for a win remains to be seen

Weird that we want to complain about inability to create our own shot, while also complaining about hero ball. And yes, you can be a good shot creator without playing hero ball, but it seems stupid to sit there and say "hey you know what would help? If we were better at basketball." So insightful.

Credit to the Boomers and staff last night. Playing at that pace wore Greece down and allowed us to get back in it late. They DID go to Delly and Reath, when we needed to change it up, and Delly in particularly had an awesome impact. But you can't have it all ways. Sometimes they'll ride Patty and he'll get hot, sometimes he'll be a disaster. You risk the disaster because if you get the right version of Patty, it swings the outcome in a way few other guys on the roster can do. Same as you live with *some* of the turnovers because playing at that pace is going to lead to more mistakes than a pound the ball half-court style we can't win with.

Australians who can create their own shot
(off the top of my head)

Ben Henshell
Chris Goulding
Tyrese Proctor
Dash Daniels

Who else?

Maybe Fennell.
Vasiljevic but too small.

Boomers beyond 2024 need to be focused around:

Giddey
Exum
Furphy
Daniels
Green (I know but I have a lot of faith)
Thybulle (plead for forgiveness)
Reath
Landale

I would add long term::

Dash Daniels
Zikarsky

Then Patty for locker room, vet presence and spot up (Spurs style) shooter for another campaign
And one other place for most in form eg a McVeigh or equivalent shooter

Kay, Ingles, Delly. Thank you for your service. They have had great careers for the boomers and Delly continues to impress. But time may be to fully hand over the torch. Would still love these guys in coaching and support roles for the culture.

This is the full change of guard list and one we can start investing in over the next decade to build chemistry. An exciting young NBA list with time to build capital.

All smokies...

6'4 Proctor
6’5 Daniels
6’5 Mcdowell-White
6’5 Armstrong
6’5 Henshall
6’5 Thybulle
6’6 Galloway
6’6 Siulepa
6’7 Travers
6’7 White
6’8 Furphy
6’8 Cooks
6’9 Pinder
6’10 Simmons
6’10 Olbrich
6’11 Humphries
7’3 Zikarsky

IMO.
Dellevedova, Ingles, Kay out for sure.
Mills, Green, Mcveigh, Magnay no guarantee.

I am not sure we want to keep any of the old guard around, Patty included, for any role, assistant or otherwise. I think playing mind games to force Ingles on the team negates Patty from being some sort of positive presence on the program. He put his personal feelings above the team. If Ingles was not seen as good enough to make it, he shouldn't have made it. If it's really about the culture you accept that no one man is bigger than the team and people accept losing a role for the betterment of the whole. As far as Delly goes, he turned up to a camp uninvited before the world cup to force his way onto the team. I love the passion but I am not sure these guys have done a great job preserving the culture post 2021. If anything I think they've become toxic.

Boomers lucky to scrape through and that will be as far as they go.

Not up to standard and Goorijan is struggling.

Maybe needs another extra scotch before the game.

Asst Coaches are not helping much.Caporn having a lot to say,the other 2 are there to take up space on the bench.

Well, we've got another game to make it work. And sometimes all it takes is one. This loss could end up being a goldmine in wisdom for the coaching staff if theyre capable of understanding what they've experienced.

Anyone rate Sean MacDonald as a potential future boomer or too small?

Firstly, the length of time it takes the refs to do the video reviews would make Vaughn Mayberry proud. Needs to be a better system in place for such a high profile tournament.

Secondly, the draw and setup for the olympics is ridiculous, what was wrong with the old setup of 2 pools of 6 and 5 pool games and then the quarter finals with the crossovers. Now there is far too much emphasis placed on points differential over winning games which means we could make it into the semi-final having only won 2 games - this is ridiculous. The whole draw thing that decides the quarter final opponents is just dumb as well. FIBA need to take a good hard look at themselves and rectify this rubbish before the next olympics.

"Anyone rate Sean MacDonald as a potential future boomer or too small?"



Probably not. I mean look at the other players in his position ... Giddey, Daniels, Proctor to begin with.

Yeah fair call ME

ME "If Ingles was not seen as good enough to make it, he shouldn't have made it".

I 100% agree. He's not played so why include him...
If they wanted him there so much for culture reasons, just add him to the staff.

I think they have been missing Matisse’s D a lot more than they expected, especially in the last 2 games. Even though he doesn’t provide much offensively, having him against Greece would kept the game much closer in the first two quarters.

With Patty’s decline, we are also really missing a go to scorer. Who is that going to be moving forward?

Agreed Uncle Phil but the Olympics is always secondary in standard to the WC so gives us more of a punchers chance ala Tokyo than the WC like last year when we finished 9th albeit without Landale.

We're fortunate to be scraping through to the QF, if Spain had scored four more points we would've finished bottom in our group and everyone would be calling Goorjian's head on a stake right now.

Whoever we play in the QF I think we probably match up a bit better against Serbia. We beat them comfortably in the warm-up games but no doubt they weren't showing their full hand but we only beat France by a point and I think Wemby is a much tougher match up for us than Serbia's bigs. If would be quite cheeky if we win this next game and jag a SF spot but such is the format.

Last night we looked terrible against Greece in the first half but thankfully shut them down in the second half with some great defence and almost snatched the win. Even though Patty is just about shot we have to keep riding him as our team is built around him being a dominant part of the offence.

Goorjian still refusing to play Ingles gives strength to the talk he didn't want Ingles on the team but Patty forced his hand. Horrible situation. Also was interesting to hear the other commentator with Gaze say Patty might be playing in Japan this season rather than the NBL.

Me - everything you've said about what's going on in the team explains how flat they were mentally at the start last night.
Really believe it's time to bring Exum in for Patty and play him on the wing.Duop in for Kay, it's time.Green Mills McVeigh off the bench.
Organise team with some plays and that's it move on looking to future and who knows might actually get Rose Gold again.

Who coaches next, having multiple nba players doesn't help if you haven’t been brought up on fiba play styles, so it’s going need to be someone that understands both. To me it has to be Gleeson, great coach in the gym and really good on game day. Gleeson and Roth as assistant, I’d keep Neilson as well.

https://www.hoops.com.au/forum/52102-whatE28099s-next-for-patty-mills/

Boomers beyond 2024 need to be focused around:

Giddey
Exum
Furphy
Daniels
Green (I know but I have a lot of faith)
Thybulle (plead for forgiveness)
Reath
Landale

I would add long term::

Dash Daniels
Zikarsky

Then Patty for locker room, vet presence and spot up (Spurs style) shooter for another campaign
And one other place for most in form eg a McVeigh or equivalent shooter

Kay, Ingles, Delly. Thank you for your service. They have had great careers for the boomers and Delly continues to impress. But time may be to fully hand over the torch. Would still love these guys in coaching and support roles for the culture.

This is the full change of guard list and one we can start investing in over the next decade to build chemistry. An exciting young NBA list with time to build capital.

-----------

You forgot to mention the most important thing, Goorgian should be replaced. He has messed up the team selection, tactics and maintaing blind faith with players who are not good enough or well past their use by date. Not selecting Thybulle for this Olympics is disgraceful.

I thought we played well against both Spain and Canada (even though they pulled away late), but that first half against Greece was very lacklustre, low energy and poor decisions. The turnovers are a concern, particularly as they tend to come in loose play rather than structured, really a seems to swing the momentum. It was always going to be tough getting through this group, and disregarding the first half v. Greece, I think we put our best foot forward and it's the best result we could have hoped for.

People complaining about Ingles as if he would be moving the needle if he was out there... please lol

It's a 12 man team. There are always people who don't play. It's literally impossible to get 12 players good minutes. Tatum and Embiid got DNP's.

11/12 on the roster historically has been for either youth development or insurance. It's rare to bring them into the rotation otherwise. I don't see any need for a conspiracy to explain Reath/Ingles minutes.

Goorjian has formulated this team with an identity. Reath and Ingles don't fit that mould. That's not to say that Reath and Ingles wouldn't be able to contribute, it's just that the style Goorj is looking to play fits other players better.

Cannot wait for a different coach. What a waste of two majors with this bloke who is way past it. It is incredibly negligent to have no semblance of a half-court offence at this level. Imagine relying on defensive stops for transition baskets as if you're in the NBL. Imagine keeping Thybulle and/or Cooks at home when you know for a fact that you’ll be dealing with Giannis, SGA and possibly KD, Franz et al. Huge thanks to BA and the commentariat for the brave "nothing to see here" stance after the disastrous World Cup.

Goorjian was very fortunate BA didn't fire him after last year's WC and they agreed to him stepping down after Paris. It likely would've hurt his chances of getting another NBL contract too. My 36ers dodged a bullet on that good luck with that Kings fans.

We need shooting and rebounding. Furphy and Zikarsky will be so important going forward. Also McVeigh will be so much better in a couple of years time. Giddy, Daniel's, Green, Landale and Exum will form the nucleus of a good team. Who coaches? Gleeson, Neilson or Vickerman would have to be in the running.

"People complaining about Ingles as if he would be moving the needle if he was out there... please lol

It's a 12 man team. There are always people who don't play. It's literally impossible to get 12 players good minutes. Tatum and Embiid got DNP's."

"11/12 on the roster historically has been for either youth development or insurance. It's rare to bring them into the rotation otherwise. I don't see any need for a conspiracy to explain Reath/Ingles minutes."

------------------------------------------------------------

Ingles is 36 y/o.
Does he need development? No.
Can he be an insurance like reath? No.
ingles can't do both.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Goorjian has formulated this team with an identity. Reath and Ingles don't fit that mould. That's not to say that Reath and Ingles wouldn't be able to contribute, it's just that the style Goorj is looking to play fits other players better."

------------------------------------------------------------

This is really stupid.
If Ingles and Reath don't fit Goorj's mold, then why did you select them for the final list? If Goorj selected players who don't fit the style of play he wants, then that's a problem.

Roth?

Secondly, the draw and setup for the olympics is ridiculous, what was wrong with the old setup of 2 pools of 6 and 5 pool games and then the quarter finals with the crossovers. Now there is far too much emphasis placed on points differential over winning games which means we could make it into the semi-final having only won 2 games - this is ridiculous. The whole draw thing that decides the quarter final opponents is just dumb as well. FIBA need to take a good hard look at themselves and rectify this rubbish before the next olympics.

Goorj will be fine at the kings, he's still an excellent coach, he will set up his system and the team will play to it. It’s a lot different from being a national coach where players come in from different countries and styles. He’s no fool. Goorj first crack at the boomers wasn’t great either, he’s been good enough to get us bronze at his second even if it was a lot of Lemanis work. We are still in this tournament even if it’s a long shot, which was always going to be the case anyway.

Ingles is versatile insurance: another ball handler, a legit shooter, can create and play the pick-n-roll, can play 3/4.

I doubt Reath was certainly on the outer when selected. I think Magnay offered more, interior D, pick-n-roll and rebounding.

"Ingles is versatile insurance: another ball handler, a legit shooter, can create and play the pick-n-roll, can play 3/4."

So if you give Ingles PT, can he do all that? When he's on the floor, he doesn't play perimeter defense at all and just watches the opponents shoot.
He's 36 y/o. If the Boomers had Doncic, he could have easily thrown wide-open shots. But the Boomers don't have that kind of player. Everyone has to play defense and everyone has to play offense.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"I doubt Reath was certainly on the outer when selected. I think Magnay offered more, interior D, pick-n-roll and rebounding."

Will Maganay

8.8 MIN / 1.7 PTS (FG 25% - FT 50%) / 1.7 REB / 0.3 AST / 1.3 STL / 0.7 BLK / 0.3 TOV / 2.7 PF / -5.7

What on earth is he offering?

*Will Magnay

That means Magnay has 3.2 blocks per 40m, only behind Golbert (5.0 bp40m) and...

Reath at 4.0 blocks per 40m.

I like Reath, so I'm not arguing against his inclusion, but Magnay seems better defending the pick-n-roll, more physical, and those blocks seem to come from strong side D, as opposed to Reath more likely getting his blocks from the weak side.

I think Magnay has offered a lot more than those stats can show.

Olympic system definitely sucks

Old system was better. Proving yourself over 8 games instead of 6 meant the final results were a better indication of ability.

Only 3 preliminary games is ridiculous.

With opponent, based on results so far including warm-ups, we want France. Despite the crowd and potential reffing.

The lineup I thought of after the group stage ended.

Starter
Giddey
Exum
Daniels
Kay (Defense) or McVeigh (Offense)
Landale

Bench
Delly
Mills
Green
McVeigh (Small) or Reath (Big)
Magnay (Defense) or Reath (Offense)

Do some punters just rely on stats, watch the games, stats don't always tell the truth. Magnay has been very reasonable this tournament, better than some the big names.

You know the answer to that Dunkman. Of course some people rely purely on stats. You just have to see the all the strays Nick Kay has been copping because he hasn't hit a 3. Positional defence and playing your role off ball on O doesn’t show up in the box score and isn’t sexy and doesn’t get your multi over.

"Do some punters just rely on stats, watch the games, stats don't always tell the truth. Magnay has been very reasonable this tournament, better than some the big names."

You are someone who relies on plus-minus stats more than anyone else.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"better than some the big names."

Magnay plays very hard. There is no one who doesn't know that.
So who are some of the big names who are worse than Magnay?

I'm still trying to work out what kind of style of team Goorjian is trying to build, or what style of play.

It’s not consistently fast and aggressive, taking advantage of our young athletes. It’s not a deliberate structured offense with lots of player and ball movement, to take advantage of our vets. It’s not built around structured play to produce reliable 3-point shooting, cos we don’t have enough shooters or structured play. It’s not built around dominant bigs and getting it inside. Or NBA-style iso. Or protecting ball possession and minimising turnovers.

It just seems very much left up to the players to make it up as they go along, so that we’re bits of everything and random as anything. Amazingly enough, as was said above, we’ve stayed close by playing poorly; imagine how good we could be if we played well and coherently.

Can anyone smarter than me spell it out? What IS the Goorjian style of team play that he’s achieving (or at least working towards)?

That's why I argued that we should change the Head Coach right after the WC ended last year.

Plus- minus stat shows how you perform when you are on the floor with other TEAM members, even Bogut mentioned it on his game reviews. It's a stat that comes out the nba which has been taken up by all top league coaches in the world. Kay was bad yesterday and his plus-minus showed it, I’ve stuck for him when he’s done all the team things and his plus-minus has been good but overall stats down. It’s a TEAM sport.

Gotta say, the focus on heights of players as an indicator is the very rudimentary. Toe to top of head is kind of irrelevant by comparison to length and athleticism, and basketball IQ. So basic. Feels like those old guys from Moneyball.

The player with the highest minus in the game against Greece was Landale with -11. So was he the worst player yesterday?

Olympic system definitely sucks

Old system was better. Proving yourself over 8 games instead of 6 meant the final results were a better indication of ability.

Only 3 preliminary games is ridiculous.

Landale played the second most minutes, most players around the same minutes were the same, again it's a stat that has to be looked at with all other stats. I defended Kay when he was getting rubbished by all and he was minus 1 and played a lot minutes when others around the same time were minus 10 or more. As I’ve said previously I’m never been a great fan of Kay but I’ll stick by my judgment of what I see on the court with the evaluation of stats to make my mind up and just don’t bag players because I don’t like them like some experts around here.

(not my opinion)

@Instagram comments - This is no longer the Australian Boomers. It is Mills and Ingles personal team, and it is a disgrace. They clearly have too much influence over Goorjian, picking Ingles, to just sit on the bench is a complete waste of a spot. The minutes we are putting into Mills despite he hasnt shown any form is also alarming. I'm starting to think the reason we play Kay so much, is he is the sacrificial Lamb who gets the blame, to divert attention from how poor Mills has been playing.

Conspiracytheories 'r' us?

I wonder how much of this Patty hate is driven by racism rather than an objective basketball evaluation.

^^^ Ridiculous comment.

Objectively, he's shooting 35% from the floor, has 11 turnovers to 4 assists and the worst +/= on the team.

*worst +/-

If the rumours are true, how long until they are verfied and acknowledged as such?
If so, what would the ramifications be?


In terms of coaches going forward, Gleeson and Roth would be the most preferred by the public yes?

I don't think Roth would want to give up his summers back home in the States (understandable).

How likey is Gleeson to take up the offer if he gets it?

Channel 9 should've hired him for some commentary on this Olympics, similar to how he did during the WC, that was super interesting to hear his critic on things.

Gleeson would be in Japan getting ready for his new coaching gig.

Adam Caporn is who will have the job post Olympics.
NBA guys have already made it clear to BA they won't have Gleeson or Vickerman coaching them, and want Caporn.

Because giving the NBA guys the coach they want has gone so well thus far.

Through
-
Canada
Australia
Greece

Germany
France
Brazil

USA
Serbia

Knocked out
-
Spain
Japan
South Sudan
Puerto Rico

1/4s
USA vs Brazil
Germany vs Greece
Australia vs Serbia
Canada vs France

Beat em before, why not again...

USA easy over Brazil.
Germany have too many guys to throw at giannis.
Canada guards vs France bigs.

France is cooked + Wemby, can't see them advancing...

Serbia has Jokic and a better supporting cast than Giannis, it's basically FIBA Patty or bust for us RN…

"NBA guys have already made it clear to BA they won't have Gleeson or Vickerman coaching them, and want Caporn."
___________

They won bronze in the back of Lemanis with Goorjian on the sidelines, and they're demanding a coach who's in the NBA despite our biggest struggles in FIBA being against Europeans.....makes sense.

●

"Beat em before, why not again..."

_____

True, but our previous win over Serbia was without Bogdanavic who most would agree is their 1st or 2nd best player.
We can still beat them with him playing, but need to play close to a perfect game for 40 minutes

Semi-finals:

SRB/AUS vs. BRA/USA
GER/GRE vs. FRA/CAN

Looks like we are on the USA side of the bracket.

Beat Serbia
Lose to USA
Beat Germany for Bronze

Will be tough

Looking forward to a Canada v USA final and Germany v Australia bronze medal game

If we beat Serbia it would take what has been an underwhelming campaign to a relatively successful one. There would be no shame in being knocked out by USA. And we might even get to see our favourite matchup in history again Curry vs Delly.

Do we always run into the USA? Feels like it.

Germany have smashed everyone, I think they're gonna beat Canada without too much concern.

GER vs USA - Gold Match
SER vs CAN - Bronze Match

My predictions

Germany also would have a much better chance against the USA, Canada play the same run and gun style as the USA just with less talent.

Curry has been terrible this olympics, Delly would give him fits.


Tough ask for us but I have major confidence in Dyson shutting down Bogdanovic

Germany are defending world champions and they are big, USA should get them on athletic ability but could be a magnificent game if it pans out to that. I'm not ruling out Canada.

Do we always run into the USA? Feels like it.

We do often run into the USA, but at least it's often in the Semis. Much more preferable than running into them in the Quarters like we did in 08 and 12.

Because we have been regularly in that 4-8 world ranking and then rarely(have we ever?) top our pool it is likely we will hit the world number 1 in the quarters or semis.

We tanked against Angola years ago to avoid the USA and then lost(more like threw the game away) next game to Turkey anyway.

Under the new system we need to be able to convincingly win our group to avoid them I think.

Has anyone got a list of all the times we've played the USA since they started using NBA players?

Off the top of my head the first encounter was the 'Shane Heal game' in '96 in Utah a warm up game for the Olympics. Even though Heal had a big game and had that incident with Barkley but we got spanked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2OnwlKVKas

Then we played Dream Team III again at the 96 Atlanta Olympics. Then we played them in a warm up game before the 2000 Olympics in Melbourne which had the Vince Carter-Gaze tangle but don't think we played them at that Olympics. I think we also played them at the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane but that was young NBA guys like Baron Davis etc.

I'm pretty sure we played them at the 2004 Athens Olympics and had a close loss, 10 points maybe. Next was a warm up game before the 2008 Olympics in Shanghai that may have been the close loss and then played them again at the Olympics in Beijing.

I must admit I don't remember the 2012 London Olympics game at all did we play them in Rio in 2016? Then there was the two WC warm up games in Melbourne in 2019 the first one a close loss and the second one we finally beat them. Then the last time was the warm up game in Abu Dhabi before Paris another close loss.

1. **1992** (Barcelona Olympics Group Stage): USA 116 - Australia 57
2. **1996** (Exhibition Game in Phoenix): USA 118 - Australia 77
3. **1996** (Atlanta Olympics Semi-final): USA 101 - Australia 73
4. **2000** (Exhibition Game in Hawaii): USA 89 - Australia 64
5. **2000** (Sydney Olympics Semi-final): USA 89 - Australia 75
6. **2004** (Athens Olympics Group Stage): USA 89 - Australia 79
7. **2008** (Exhibition Game in Shanghai): USA 87 - Australia 76
8. **2008** (Beijing Olympics Quarter-final): USA 116 - Australia 85
9. **2012** (Exhibition Game in Manchester): USA 86 - Australia 76
10. **2012** (London Olympics Quarter-final): USA 119 - Australia 86
11. **2014** (FIBA World Cup): USA 98 - Australia 65
12. **2016** (Rio Olympics Group Stage): USA 98 - Australia 88
13. **2019** (Exhibition Game in Melbourne): USA 102 - Australia 86
14. **2019** (Exhibition Game in Melbourne): Australia 98 - USA 94
15. **2021** (Exhibition Game in Las Vegas): Australia 91 - USA 83
16. **2021** (Tokyo Olympics Semi-final): USA 97 - Australia 78
17. **2024** (Olympic Warm-up): USA 98 - Australia 92

Okay thanks for that not sure why I didn't remember the 92 Barcelona game. But the 96 exhibition game was in Utah not Phoenix I linked to it in case any younger ones wanted to watch it. Also the 2000 warm up game, the VC-Gaze tangle was in Melbourne not Hawaii. A number of games there I don't remember at all including the 2021 game in Las Vegas, the memory isn't what it once was! lol

We both forgot this one we played them at the '94 World Championships too, I had it on tape but threw them all out a long time ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-DEWb12W2E&ab_channel=DaveR

The 1996 exhibition in Utah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fu5A6Tw6vg&ab_channel=MacFryz

A clip featuring the Carter-Gaze tangle from the 2000 exhibition in Melbourne:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4HcOsKhB-Q&ab_channel=Classicsports

The next major tourney is 3 years away, 2027, id say more than half the roster will effectively "age off"...

Um...not sure about that 1992 one. Pretty sure we didn't play them in 1992.

Don't forget the 130 - 74 loss against Dream Team II in the 1994 World Championship.

We didn't play them in the Sydney Olympics. Our semi final was against France and we lost 52-76.

2004 was the game where we led the US for three quarters with pretty much an all-NBL squad during Goorj's first stint.

We didn't play them in the Sydney Olympics. Our semi final was against France and we lost 52-76.

We don't play USA in Barcelona

We were in the other pool, and lost to Croatia in the 1/4's

I picked the wrong game in 2019- was there Thursday night but not Saturday arvo when we finally beat them

5 of the last 6 have been very competitive, even Tokyo we were in the lead (?) until Durant went on a tear.

We had a 15 point lead in Tokyo and then when it whittled down to 3, Goorjian didnt see fit to call a time out along the way to maintain any momentum. I don't think it's beyond the Boomers to make the USA work for a win - they've "only" (and I say that loosely) been beating teams like South Sudan and Puerto Rico by about 20. But barring a bit of a miracle I can't see Australia beating a team with their star power. It's too many holes to plug. Maybe we can keep them to moderate scoring numbers with our defense but I don't think we have enough weapons ourselves to keep pace. For the Boomers have any reasonable chance of winning, shots need to drop and we need production out of guys like Green and Kay who've provided next to nothing offensively to this point.

Serbia is a winnable game though.

Who stops Jokic, it's certainly a winnable game if Jokic can be stopped, his passing is as good as his scoring.

Magnay will get Jokic along with some help doubles...possibly Reath, but honestly who knows if he'll get any time.

I think the major individual concern is Bogdanavic because of his movement, shot, versatility.
Danis will have the job on him along with Exum and Green.

We will need a very good team defense because Serbia are one of the best teams in the world at executing, and they have 2,3 or more actions per set.

I want to see us feed Landale early and get Magnay into some pick n rolls.
The more interior points, the more we can mix it up with a perimeter & cutting game otherwise our offense will be too predictable and easy to guard

A win is possible, but certainly not easy.

Otherwise our offe

A lot of people talk about "who stops x player?" At their level, no one stops them. It's about can you make it difficult enough for them to get their numbers that the rest of the team doesn't go on a roll on you. Australia actually did a 'pretty good' job on that against Giannis in the second half of the Greece game. You'd hope they come out with more desperation and intensity against Serbia because they'll need to.

Germany will be in the Gold Medal game, I think they are a better team than Canada. As for Australia I dont see us beating Serbia in all honesty so am not the slightest bit worried about playing the US.

As an Atlanta Hawks fan I am looking forward to the Daniels v Bogdanovic match up. My patriotism for the Boomers wins out, so I hope both play well but Serbia lose.