I'm really pumped for this knowing we're lucky to have gotten through to the QF. If we're somehow able to jag this game then we're into the SF and playing with house money from then on.

Even though we beat Serbia relatively comfortably in that warm up game Bogdanovic didn't play and they were likely keeping 1 or 2 things up their sleeves. We're in with a punches chance and that's all you can really ask for. I thought Landale & Magnay did reasonably well defensively against Jokic & Milutinov. Bogdanovic may be the difference and hopefully Daniels is able to nullify him.

If we lose 5-8 placing is about right but if we win a likely SF game against the USA awaits and if expected we lost that the chance to play for a medal in the bronze medal game. Just need FIBA Patty or someone else to have the game of their lives against Serbia.

I believe we can win this, every player has to front up at both ends, Jokic obviously a massive problem. Magnay could be decisive here even if gets fouls, he's got five of them, use them. Mills will have to be closer to fiba patty as well, Green also must be better. Should be a great game.

If not for the absolute stinker against Greece I think people would be more optimistic about our chances in this game. But I hardly think it would take "the game of our lives" to beat Serbia. They've got a couple of great players but their recent games have been against South Sudan and Peurto Rico and they hardly blew either off the court plus they got smacked by thr USA. I'm not sure that their form looks any better than ours and they'd probably be one of our preferred match ups at this point. If we look at our team across the totality of preparation.and games I think there's enough to suggest we can get this win. And sometimes you need a scare to bounce back and play your best basketball. The bookies may disagree but I've got Australia getting a win in this one. I think our guards can contain theirs and we have enough bodies to throw at Jokic to at least see thay he doesn't win the game on his own. Serbia has some talent butbtheyve not necessarily shown up as all that much in this tournament and our win against Spain and close match with Canada has been more competitive basketball than they've had this time around.

Australia by 5.

Our 2016 team was one of the best performed teams before running into Serbia (again) in the Semis.

The hammering the Serbs dished out still hurts.

Olympians who did not compete in warm-up games

Bogdan Bogdanovic
3GP / 27.6 MIN / 19 PTS (FG 54.1% - 2P 55% - 3P 52.9% - FT 88.9%) / 4.3 REB / 3.7 AST / 1 STL / 1 BLK / 2.7 TOV / 1 PF / +0.7 / 20.3 EFF

Ognjen Dobric
3GP / 18.8 MIN / 7 PTS (FG 38.1% - 2P 38.5% - 3P 37.5% - FT 66.7%) / 1.7 REB / 1 AST / 0.7 STL / 2 TOV / 1.3 PF / +13 / 3.7 EFF

Nikola Jovic
3GP / 16.5 MIN / 7 PTS (FG 43.8% - 2P 66.7% - 3P 30% - FT 66.7%) / 2.3 REB / 1.3 AST / 0.3 STL / 0.3 TOV / 1 PF / +2 / 7 EFF

Dejan Davidovac
2GP / 3.9 MIN / 2 PTS (FG 50% - 2P 100% - 3P 0% - FT 100%) / 0.5 REB / 0.5 AST / 0.5 STL / +2 / 3 EFF

Uros Plavsic
1GP / 2.4 MIN / 2 PTS (FG 50% - 2P 50%) / 3 REB / 1TOV / +5 / 3 EFF

Warm-up games with Serbia are practically meaningless. They became a different team. I expect it to be a really difficult game.

Boomers in with a real shot.

Offensively, need Giddey or Patty to bring their absolute best, and need to hit a decent clip

Defensively, need entire team locked in- like the 2nd half against Greece.

We have just survived the "group of death". We have not played anywhere near as well as we can as we are still "learning" to get the best of ourselves. Yet, we did get through that group. That was against Canada, Greece and Spain, all ranked above us. Yet, we did get through that group. We have every bit as much chance of getting through this as not, 50/50.

Let's talk half full rather than half empty.

We should read zero into any warm up games, especially with Serbia missing so many of their main players, playing against our full team.

If we analyse it slightly bigger picture including last years world cup,

Australia
4 wins 4 losses
10th last year


Serbia
8 wins 3 losses
2nd last year

Given it was just last year, I think combining the records gives us a bigger sample size and indicator of where these teams are at.

Serbia has the best 2 players on the court in Jokic and Bogdanovic

So if we look at the bigger picture metrics, we have to acknowledge Serbia is the better team and should be seen as favourites.

Whilst its not impossible to win a once off game, the sloppy play, too many turnovers, not good enough ball movement and chemistry, lack of defence and rebounding at times doesnt indicate that its likely.

Also some context on the USA v Serbia game, if people watch the game and not just look at the final margin, it wasnt a complete smashing, was very similar to how Canada beat Australia.

Having said that, GO BOOMERS, i hope they prove me wrong and get the upset!

Heart says go Australia, head says Serbia win by 8

Solid anaysis Jonno.

Yep, well said Jonno. Completely agree

Spot on Jonno and exciting times ahead with young stars beginning to really develop. Hopefully Rocco comes along nicely in the future to assist Landale in the paint, and pairs up with our young guards and wings. A win tonight, or even a great contest against a world powerhouse would do wonders for the group. GO YOU BOOMERS!

Yea, completely agree re an exciting future, Daniels and Giddey are 21, around 8 of this group should still be going strong for next tournament and we add guys like Rocco, Roman, Furphy, Proctor, Dash Daniels types into the mix and the future is bright.

No love for Olbrich?

Who will be the next Patty Mills?

We have a lot of talented players, but we don't have a scorer.
Ultimately, we need a player who can take over clutch time in the fourth quarter.

Prospects with good strength and athletic ability are poor shooters.

Prospects with decent shooters are either very short, slow, have poor athletic ability, or can't do a dribble pull-up.

Well said, PTGM

Isn't that what the CoE is supposed to produce - athletic shooters? NOT LOL!

Sample sizes are too small for meaningful predictions IMO.

Jonno's post was interesting but really, Australia has a totally different team to last year with Landale, Magnay, McVeigh, Delly. Daniels is playing 29 minutes a game, last year he played 2! No Thybulle, no Cooks, Ingles gone from the rotation.

Serbia obviously has changes too.

Serbia deserves to be favourites given they have one Nikola Jokic, but personally, I don't think Australia deserves to be as far outsiders as the bookies have us, especially when we've got genuine NBA role players either not getting on court (Ingles, Reath) or not making the team (Thybulle).

The Aussies finished top 4 in three major tournaments in a row (2016, 2019, 2021) and last year played a donut team without Landale, and lost to the eventual champions by 3 points. We shouldn't fear anyone. Play our best basketball and we're a very good shot of beating anyone outside the USA.

No love for Olbrich?

He needs to start practicing his 3P from now on. The way for him to become a Boomers is to improve his 3P.

Our team looks a lot better than last year, but we are still relying on a lot of youth in the backcourt, and we have no idea which Mills will show up tonight. If FIBA Patty can show up in this one, it will solidify his legacy. I can't see Goorjian giving up on Mills just yet, especially when Mills practically single-handedly forged a medal for Goorjian.

I honestly do think this game is as simple as will Patty Mills show up or not?

I know the warmup game was very different but he was awesome with 28 points and we get the W.

If he has another stinker on both ends, we have zero chances of winning, he impacts our offence and defence too much with how many minutes he plays.

Patty has been mostly bad this tournament, but he lives for the big moments and I still feel like FIBA patty has just a bit of gas left in the tank


Cmon Patty, cmon the Boomers! Let's get it done

Olbrich shot the three at 33% in NZ, he'll be one the first picked in a few seasons.

It's not just Patty

Giddey is the other guy with potential to blow the game open for Boomers

Especially if he can hit some threes like he has on occasions recently

And don't forget Landale

21 NBL playoffs and Tokyo proved he can handle the big stage.

If he can nullify Jokic's influence, or be competitive, it'll go a long way.

"Prospects with decent shooters are either very short, slow, have poor athletic ability, or can't do a dribble pull-up."

I dont think that applies to Johnny Furphy who will look very handy on the wings next to Giddey and Daniels.

"The Aussies finished top 4 in three major tournaments in a row (2016, 2019, 2021) and last year played a donut team without Landale, and lost to the eventual champions by 3 points. We shouldn't fear anyone. Play our best basketball and we're a very good shot of beating anyone outside the USA."

This. People keep forgetting that we didnt even have a starting centre last tournament and it's clear coaching staff doesnt trust Reath who, despite his size, barely saw minutes even in that case. I also think people are easily discouraged. The Boomers this year have yet to show consistency across a game but that doesn't mean they wont find it.

"If he has another stinker on both ends, we have zero chances of winning, he impacts our offence and defence too much with how many minutes he plays."

People say provizos like this that I see disproven in basketball all the time - they single out one player and say "if X doesnt do well, it's over" and then someone else contributes in some unexpected way. I don't think this team is nearly as Patty-centric as they have been in the past. If Patty cant hit 15 tonight, can Daniels get 10 and Green get 5? Basketball is a funny game and often doesn't play out quite as predicted.

"Olbrich shot the three at 33% in NZ, he'll be one the first picked in a few seasons."

I'd like to see one of our forwards and centres put on some real size. We look like we may have some length in Zikarsky but physically our guys are a bit string bean and we lack some bruisers that I think could really help us out inside moving forward. Even a borderline skinny fat player with a Jokic physicality would help. We need some space takers in there and maybe he can be a guy to bulk up.

-----


Either way Id like to think the Greece game is an anomaly. We've had one particularly poor game and everyone has one at some point. I think the averages will weigh out and its hard to see us being that bad again. If we play to our potential we have a good shot at winning this game. A lot of international commentators give us more credit than those here, and think that we've got a good shot. NBCOlympics ranks us 4th among teams at the moment, and the most likely outside of Canada, USA and Germany to medal. Certainly if another team we revere had our record so far we wouldn't discount them quite so quickly so I dont know why we assume this wont be a game or we laugh at ourselves because they've got Jokic. I think we need to be a bit more optimistic without obviously just assuming the W.

Paris 2024 Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament averages per game

SRB / AUS
95.7 PTS / 82 PTS
42 REB / 41.3 REB
25.7 AST / 21.7 AST
2P 65.8% / 2P 50.8%
3P 32.9% / 3P 38.7%
FT 75.3% / FT 63.5%

Hopefully we get FIBA Patty rather than Melbourne Tigers Patty tonight.

Serbia are already stifling us.

I hate this jungleball trash.

We going with Kay still?

FIBA Giddey.

Refs calling this about 5x softer than the women's games

Good start, our D looks nice.

Flyin'!

FIBA Patty time.

The refs and Boomers are super loose.

Please Keep Kay on the bench.

and keep that Blend 43 in the kitchen cabinet.

Elite first quarter!!!!

Cant get comfortable, Greece were up by 10 at 1QT and got smashed.

Magnay been important so far as well, Patty playing well.

I think Delly ahead of Green is a great move.

NescafKay is obsessed

What a ripper of a quarter!!!

That is possibly the best quarter I have ever seen from a Boomers team.

Love the pace. Love that we have got so many players in early.

Long way to go but thats git my heart rate up.

Now that is a 1st QTR!!! Great effort boys.

Hard to imagine a better quarter.

Maintain the rage BOOMERS!

Good that we are using our bench.

Got to agree, keep Kay sittin while we look better.

Fantastic start, Exum is Australia's glue guy, you can’t win without them.

Playing fast but under control. A good formula

Best quarter of the tournament for us... 76% FG percentage.

Patty still going. How good is this!

Nice start but im not getting carried away just yet..

Patty unconscious!!!

Yes let's crush them!!!!

Second quarter just as good so far.

COME ON LADS LETS GO

Patty!! Ok im excited

Delly on D fantastic, love how we are subbing.

Reath three. LOL.

Duop !

Is this real life?

The D at both ends could hardly be more different. We're taking whatever we want. Keep throwing fresh bodies out there for as long as we can get away with it.

Long time to go but so enjoyable so far - Go Boomers

No Josh Green either.

Amazing start by the boomers

I didnt think patty had this left in him

Keep it rolling, go boomers !

Ball movement & spacing at offensive end is absolutely elite! Not sure I've seen this group of Boomers play better collective defense than this game!

Boomers game summary so far:

We are shooting 80% from the field... WTF

We're gonna cool down, can't lose our heads.

This is 1990s, Pamela Anderson wet dream material at the moment.

Kay subbed on.

Oh dear...

This is 1990s, Pamela Anderson wet dream material at the moment

Kay fkn things up, weak double.

Kay fkn things up, weak double.

I'm with Gaze. T up that clown.

Refs on point as well. Nice.

Avramovic you weakling.

Play acting by the Serbians

Well done refs

Magnay n Kay, get em off!

Lead down to 14, I'm back to being worried.

Jungleball is coming back. Steady boys, steady.

Exum!

Fkn turnovers killing us again this quarter

No more Kay-magnay frontcourts please

Magnay great D on Jokic

Exum has been fantastic

Great composure lads.

Weedy for someone that clearly knows a fair bit about hoops, your irrational hatred of Kay is moronic. So which is it? Does he owe you money or stole your girlfriend?

Where's Landale???

Very easy team to dislike the Serbians with their soccer like overacting & theatrics!

Serbian settling, this is to be expected. Our shooting is cooling down, we just can't throw silly turnovers.

Gus, he terrible...

HT AUS 54-42 SRB

reb

Patty blows a defensive rotation. Weedy blames Kay. Lol I can only smh

The Kay inclusion is one of the biggest mistakes, he's averaging 6pts, 3 rbds in 22 minutes.
Last years World Cup Xavier Cooks averaged 14pts, 6rbds in 17 minutes.
Cooks can bring the ball up saving the guards from these stupid turnovers and get us into offense quickly in the half court.

Where was the last time Kay hit a 3pt ?

Giddey cant even bother to block a shooter out at a free throw.....

Serbia's constant complaining is doing my head in.

Shaky 2nd quarter made worse by a couple too many t/o's, but still a nice position to be in.

I'm glad I’m not the only one who sees Kay as the weakest link.

Hopefully there isn't a second half vs. Canada-/first half vs. Greece-like performance coming up.

Kay is probably Goorgian's love child. How can someone be so bad in offence & defence yet play so many minutes??

Couple of bad turnovers from our guards and o boards are all we need to tidy up.

As long as we keep up the pace with lots of passing and movement and little dribbling, like in the first half.

It will also help draw some USFs from Serbia, to our advantage.

The margin feels small considering how hot we had to shoot it to get to this scoreline.

#firstworldproblems

Serbia are sneaky smart. Those breaks in the game are exactly what they want. Boomers pace doesn't suit them. As soon as they had a breather, they were back in a flow. We have to use our depth and continue to play at pace.

If Kay can't make a 3PT, I'll choose Cooks and Thybulle.

Good half time lead, playing fast has been great, but at time you got slow it down. Got to start the second half solid or they will charge. Exum been great.

HT odds: AUS 1.53 SRB 2.88

They'll make their runs, they are too good not to. Positive energy people, huge second half coming up! BOOMERS!

Serbia lifted their intensity too after the spray from Svetislav Pešić. We did settle once more after they made a run.

It's only a 12 point difference. We have to play our best.

You can't chose Cooks ant MT moron

Maybe he meant or...

REB !

Serbia were always going to have a few runs.
If we can we maintain the pace we are playing while looking after the ball I'm confident we can bring this home.

Not liking this slower pace, need to pick it up like during the first half.

If Kay can't make a 3PT, I'll choose Cooks and Thybulle

--------

Kay has only made one 3pt from his last 15 attempts.

Fiba headquarters

This ref has a Michael Aylen type body.

giddey is a huge liability..... uncoachable

Way too sloppy. They never learn.

Ughh... turnovers again ffs

Why do we let Giddey do this?

Seriously?

Boomers are cooked

boomers -11 with Giddey on the court

Delly coming on after this time out thankfully

Giddey killing us. What a waste.

we giving up?

How the hell was that Serbia ball?

Playing too slow, guys - helps Serbia

Need Exum defensively

Can we not have a shit half for once.

Oh FFS this is farcical.

Landale must be an offensive threat, not even looking at the basket on some of his catches at the top.

We're cooked (hope I'm wrong).

Our defence is abysmal

Very poor...

This is so ugly now. No composure.

And this is why you have Cooks in the team, he gets us into offense and can bring the ball up easily

Everything we run is a broken play.

Credit to Serbia, goorj got no ideas. Just letting them fk around.

Can't score
McVeigh out there getting completely ignored most possessions

?

Iso crap

Goorjian has always been a bad international coach, yet was given a second stint. Shame on you BA.

Games not over, go boomers, got play D though

Avramovic = dog.

What a dumbarse. Just what we needed.

Dirty Serbs

Abysmal quarter.

heart, hustle and never give up? Where did that go?

Phew, luckily Serbia have cooled down because we can't score.

14 TOV

Stupid turnovers combined with opposition 3 pointers and drives - seen this scenario before

Sigh, we've been sucked into playing their game.

15 TOV

3QT AUS 65-67 SRB

Is that 5 turnovers in a row?

can't win with Giddey playing, every possession is just terminal everytime he touches it. Joe might get a run yet

At least Kay doesn't throw the ball away every possession.

Its happening again

Inexcusable, wtf were the coaches doing just letting it run like that in the third.

Yeah Landale has gone too passive. He's got range and not even pretending like he's going to shoot the 3 when catching it high

Hopefully we got all the trash out of our system that quarter

Giddey has 6 turnovers....SIX!

Well one quarter to go. We're about to find out what this team is made off.

Giddey needs to pull his head in, Patty to bring us home.

Giddey from excellent to ridiculous, it's unbelievable.

Giddey was catastrophic that quarter. Probably lost us the game.

Giddey WTF was that iso garbage.

Need something special now

Cant blame Kay for that.

McVeigh rescues another garbage possession

If its going to be a half court grind id prefer Delly out there Giddey is killing us forcing things

Giddey back to hero ball

Need Delly instead of Giddey

Mills hero ball

Giddey isn't being reeled in by Goorjian, it's the coaching staff's responsibility.

Same thing happened vs. Germany in the World Cup when he cost us the game. No repercussions. Pathetic.

Gone.

Jack McTrey you are our only hope.

Get Delly on the court right now for Giddey

I don't know how we're still in this but at least that's the one positive right now.

We need to go back to Patty as a finisher rather than playmaker

We've gotta crank up the D now and get some points in transition. Serbia are getting what they want too easily on offense

Goorj is gone no matter what, he said so.
The other guys do not deserve the hc job.

Boomers not moving the ball quickly enough in half court and being pushed away from basket.

Have to get defensive stops and push it

M'Veigh Exum and Landale been great this quarter

I know Goorj is gone, should've gone after the World Cup though.

Thankfully Serbia's shooting is cold.

Jack you rippa

McVeigh!!!

Every coach needs to be nice to Josh if he's the one deciding the next Boomers coach

NBL represent. NBA players doing jack meanwhile.

Nice Jack.

Well we certainly had our chances.

Please swing the fucking rock

Two in a row drive into the paint amongst the tall timber and turn over - what a waste

Lemanis certainly had us movin the ball better. Stagnant under goorj.

Serbja doing their best keeping us in it

78-78.

Mills and Giddey doing their isi shit!!!!

Please swing the fucking rock

Funny how some actual ball movement resulted in points.

Gotta take the good with the bad with Giddey

The iso crap from our NBA players is downright disgusting.

They are all way too casual with the ball as well aside from Delly.

Giddey, cmon dude... really silly. U14 shite

Faaaark. Giddey you moron

Some of you guys are way behind.

Dodging so many bullets here

Jokic is cold thankfully.

How we're still in this one I don't know.

Serbia showing their experience and playing smarter

This is a train wreck. So hard to watch

Giddey good play finally.

and then bad.

This is the most frustrating game I've ever watched.

I still wouldn't want Giddey on to close out a tight game

Thanks Patty - just needed a good shot and hero ball - so frustrating yet again

Good and bad what Giddey does will determine our fate

Two nba guards and iso, absolute rubbish. McVeigh playing team far better.

Heartbreak yet again?

Earlier that would have been a drive and drop off to Landale for a dunk

Mills and Giddey iso guard play is out NBAing the NBA.

Landale fouls out.

Rims hate the Serbs today. Let's go final possession!

Only ourselves to blame if we lose this one. So many let-offs!

This is it.

I feel we're screwed though if this goes into OT.

Not another sideline in bound play to win a game!

9.8 seconds. One play for the win.

What have we got?

ONE MORE FROM FIBA PATTY?

Geez i wonder who is taking this shot

Double timeout.

We were up by 20... why is it always so hard.

McVeigh time baby!

OMG WE DID IT!

Oh. Yeah. Boyee.

No spoilers Perthworld

OT.

Don't know if I can handle overtime.

Jock would be handy right about now

Wtf we are really riding our luck this tourney

Me either

Yeah, but I guess this is better than losing the game on a three pointer.

Serbja burnt their timeouts

Let me just get a tissue.

Wtf we are really riding our luck this tourney

Oh my, iso just hurts so much. Reath been good.

Can't call a time out when you hVe none left Serbia. That's a tech foul.

Wow. Lots of errors but they have found a way to OT.

Got to give them some credit after giving up that lead.

Edge of the seat stuff.

Some of you are on seriously delayed streams.

Refs didn't have the balls to call the tech for excessive time-outs.

McVeigh is money.

Great effort Dante. Another bullet dodged and McTrey does his thing

No more hero ball please

Reath! Nescafe be foaming at the mouth.

More of that Duop

Giddey with the iso.

It's so bad and then it's so good. Crazy.

Mills with a stop!

I saw that too Pablo and said the same thing to my wife

More of that Josh

FFS Giddey keeps alternating between good and then bad.

NBAxFIBA

Best game Goorjian has ever coached in his life.

Reath > Kay, Magnay

OMG that rim swat by Jokic and subsequent Mills turnover :x

Boomers have invented the no pass offence...….

hero ball.

Patty had the chance in OT

Thats class Jokic

Jokic. Useful player.

Jokic had set up a tent in the keyway and had the billy boiling and then got the score.

TOV

These Boomers try so hard but are so low IQ. So many silly errors that offset so much good work.

Dam patty :(

Nailed it anonymouse.

Fancy Giddey thinking he can drive and layup over Jokic

Anonymightymouse*

Did they execute the play correctly? SMH

Fitting that a weak t/o kills us in the end.

Game over.

Fucking giddy

Sheer stupidity yet again - how tyo throw away a game in 60 seconds

We are a very dumb team.

FT SRB 95-90 AUS

Speaking of low IQ right on cue we throw it away

Wow, that sucks...

Anonymightymouse nailed it.

Im not sleeping after this

Giddy - hero to viliian

In the end, we have 1 win and 3 losses.

Gutted. Was ours to lose, though. Threw away a 24-point lead, how does that even happen :(

who ever was drawing up the inbounds plays seriously failed today

What a choke. 28 pt second half. 20 turnovers. Lost a 24 pt lead in 10 minutes.

How do you lose a 24-point lead in FIBA ball???!!!

If only we played with smarts.

Iso ball doesn't work in FIBA unless you're LeBron. Got what we deserved.
Giddey and Mills might've been top scorers but combined for 12 turnovers and both were on the wrong side of the +/-

That was an insanely entertaining yet excruciating shit-tastic game.

Ive never seen a player more polarising than Giddey. I dont know whether to love him or hate him he drives me crazy

See ya Gorg. It's not us, it's you

Some serious changes need to be made, turnovers, lack of ball movement, hero ball, low iq plays and the inability to play hard for a full game needs addressing.

Giddey made some big shots but made just as big of turnovers.

That's the problem with NBA players it's all iso ball.

Goorj has to be fired straight away.

The Boomers are good when the ball moves. They fell for the trap of trying to attack the mismatch straight away, making their offence stagnant, instead of keeping the ball moving. Serbia achieved what they wanted from the switching D and our scoring dried up.

That Latvia coach from the WC was fantastic... had them moving the ball around like a hot potatoe.

If there's one thing I can say: Jack McVeigh is fucking legit, insane how far he’s come.

Im not sleeping after this

Do we have any other plays than get the ball to Patty?

We work our arses off the get back into the game then just give the other team the ball back without running anything constructive.

Goorj is fantastic at getting players to work hard. Ordinary at getting them to play smart.

Gutted.

Campaign has to be considered a failure.

I'm glad Joe Ingles was selected..... I hope it was worth burning Matisse for.

Need a coach not currently in the Basketball Australia set up but that won't happen.

Giddey is so frustrating. For every good thing he does, the next three things are stupid.

Giddey ultimately cost us the game. Too many stupid errors, too many turnovers. What even was that last inbound?

But man, we had that. We just had to play it out. Not try to lay up over Jokic. Not play silly buggers on the sideline. So frustrating. 24 point lead. All for nothing.

Yep, McVeigh proved beyond a doubt he belongs out there. His basketball IQ put plenty of bigger names to shame, too.

Cooks > Kay
Thybulle > Ingles

Unbelievable game, as commentators I had on said, best mens basketball competition ever held.
Goorj was brought in to get keep the nba players happy, we got the bronze but played much better team under Lemanis.
We fed Reath once under the basket for easy two in OT and then went back to Mills and Giddey iso. In the end we just were not good enough. Good tournaments from Exum, McVeigh.

Vintage Fiba Patty in that first half was fun to watch.

If that's his international farewell, and Delly and Ingles too, what a ride it's been for them.

Turnovers and over-iso offense hurt us unfortunately. And Jokic getting O board after O board making so many 2nd chance points for them.

Still, the future is bright. Furphy, Zikarsky coming, Giddey and Daniels should mature into star performers, Green was lost but will return. So much depth in Australian basketball.

Luuuc, you dont think we may get more from Furphy?

Need Giddey but on a leash. Goorjian spectacularly failed at doing that, beginning with the Germany game at the World Cup last year. Shame on you Brian.

Tough to swallow.

Just want to say thank you to Patty for one last hurray. Probably the last we've ever seen of one of the greatest Boomers ever.

Joe and Delly gone as well.

Thanks for everything guys.

The biggest problem isn't Giddey, it's the coaching staff.

It annoys me how Mills never seems to get disappointed. After that he's like "it’s all good, we’re such a tight bunch". It kinda seems inappropriate to be so upbeat after a painful loss like that.

Yeah, BA failed at wanting to appease the NBA players.

That's what you get from a team made up of NBA role players (who ride the pine more than they play) and NBL guys.

We punch with the best in the world but just can't go the whole 4 quarters.

I am so frustrated but proud that we made one of the best teams in the world once again earn a semi final spot.

Gutted. Being up 24 so early was unreal. FIBA Patty at his best in the first 1.5 quarters.

Then throwing away a 24 point lead in the space of a quarter was outright pathetic.

We were also 4 points up with 1:20'ish to go? Shocking late turnovers when we were in a winning position.

Landale got reamed by the refs, some dubious calls there which put him in foul trouble and eventually fouled out really cost us.

Proud of the effort but at the end of the day this was a failed campaign. Lost it when we didn’t replace Goorj after WC. Lost it at again at selection by choosing Kay over Cooks, and Ingles over Thybulle.

What could have been.

Amazing first half, but the end result should shock no one, jokic too much class with micic, bogdanovic, etc and we continued to be too sloppy with the ball

Giddey should only get better and smarter hes 21,

But sadly serbia were the better team, not even an amazing first half and 24 point lead could take them down, they won silver last year for a reason

It's not really anyone’s fault. Goorjian did really well in that game. In the end, Giddey killed us, but we wouldn’t have even got close without some of his play.

Where did the run and gun first half go to? Why go away from what is working?

That last quarter was a lesson in how not to execute... anything….ever. Although Serbia second half defence was excellent.

McVeigh - Earned his selection.
Goulding - Should have been there for when Patty dried up. To take Ingles but not play him seems completely pointless. Take him as Assistant or mascot if that is his job. To allow a bench spot to be used by someone not playing is beyond me.

Another masterclass in abysmal coaching

100% agree that the ball needed to move more. Playmaking was meant to be a strength of this team, so surely you get everyone passing and cutting and trust that guys will make the right pass and create open looks.

However, its not just the ball that stopped moving. Off-ball movement was okay'ish in the first half and became stagnant in the second. Giddey is elite at passing to where a guy is going, its part of why he looked so good at OKC for so long, their whole offense was built on cutting. Not so useful if guys are standing around.

Giddey's dribbling up top waiting for someone, anyone to move. When it doesn't happen, especially later in the shot-clock then you get the ISO-ball that he's getting better at, but is certainly not elite at.

Mind you, whilst Patty was good in catch and shoot situations these Olympics, he was not so hot with the ball in his hands. Lots of slipping. Lots of dribble turnovers. So its hard to put it all on Giddey, I mean who else was going to create something late in the shot clock? Exum was a reasonable option. Nobody else is coming to mind.


Ultimately a 1-3 record is a disappointing showing.

Oh. Tip of the hat to Jokic.

That was an amazing string of clutch plays in OT.

@Naph - That's a very good point.

Derided - Nailed it. Lost without him but probably lost with him.

Derided - Nailed it. Lost without him but probably lost with him.

The anti-Goorjian sentiment is really fucking stupid. I don't understand why Ingles was there and no one could anticipate Kay and Green falling off a cliff like that, but it was a decent team that fell just short. You can’t really blame Goorj for this. We just weren’t quite good enough in the end, but jeez we were close.

Mills and Giddey had 41 out of the 74 shots, plus 11 of the 20 turnovers.

So out of 94 possessions they ended 52 of them.

Barely anyone else gets to take a shot. It was all about who could be the hero at the end.

Giddey with the failed block out on the free throw shooter before half time cost 2 points, and Exum with the turnover and unsportmanlike foul really cost big time. Dante arguing with the ref right before 2 free throws and missing the 1st was also dumb as well. Calm down and make the free throws.

Giddey has zero feel for the game. 7 turnovers. He needs a hair cut. He also missed 2 rebounds at the start of the 3rd which cost points and even in the last couple of minutes a weak ass defensive effort cost more points.

Dyson Daniels really disappeared with the Giddey and Patty scoring show.

The Serbian Academy of Arts is very well funded and was certainly very helpful in the 2nd half.

No love from the refs.

The Serbian style of game is hit them, push them, bump them. repeat repeat. argue every call. smash them hit them. eventually the refs stop calling fouls and the standard of defence become push and shove. Every foul and contesting and flopping also stops the flow of the game and gets it into a half court game.

Take a look at the pull of Reaths uniform on the last Boomers basket, should have been an automatic call.

The calling of the time out and stopping the game at the end another example.

This team needs a Lemanis offense.

Landed about where we deserved in the 5-8 spot. Heading into the campaign at $51 odds behind USA, Canada, Germany, Serbia, France and Greece. Remove our bias aside we have a team that is reinventing itself. We are not quite there. Yes we have the NBA talent but we are too old and too young. Still working out who we are. Yes we can play a qtr or half better than any team but the best teams can maintain focus, stamina and make adjustments for the full four quarters. Even when we are ahead we don't look in control.

Time to transition into the next phase of the Boomers. I see the following:

Giddey is 21 and arguably our best player. At the moment we live and die by his play. We can’t hate on his lapses when we get so much from him. He was much much better than the WC and will continue to get better.

McVeigh is special.

Green will bounce back

Landale is very solid and a legit centre

Reath had flashes in the minimum time he got. He has his place

Exum was excellent as usual

Daniels is a key piece

Thybulle. Let’s plead for him back.

Bring in Furphy, Rocco and Dash and let’s get our new identity.


The future is bright.

Remain
Exum
Daniels
Giddey
Reath
Landale

Lean towards stay but could be replaced by newcomer
Mills
Green
Mcveigh

Gone
Coaching staff
Dellevedova
Ingles
Kay
Magnay

Luuuc, you dont think we may get more from Furphy?

I don't understand why Ingles was there and no one could anticipate Kay and Green falling off a cliff like that, but it was a decent team that fell just short.

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

I said two years ago that Kay's prime time is over. That's why I said Kay is no longer a starter for the Boomers. But Kay was a starter in last year's World Cup and he is a starter in this Olympics.

I'd have argued for a play for McVeigh in that last play. It seemed to be Giddey and Mills hero-ing up a lot throughout the game. At least Mills actually did catch fire in the 1st half, so some of those crazy shots were justified.

To take Ingles but not play him seems completely pointless.

Jack McVeigh is here to stay, at least for the next world cup. Only get to get better.

And with Patty now gone, we're gonna need all the shooting and creation we can get.

I'm certain Goorj isn’t telling Mills and Giddey to take most of the shots, it’s just the way to keep them happy. The next coach needs Longley and Bogut involved so they keep the nba guys functioning as a team. Those are still our best nba players ever.
Greece had Germany on the ropes and gave away a big lead, it happens.

Yea kay was easy to tell he wasnt in his prime or up to it, i will never understand why cooks wasnt picked ahead of him, cooks has better career resume and had a better world cup

Ultimately, i think we basically landed where we always were going to though, even if we had cooks and thybulle in for kay and whoever

Its tjh reality of world and european basketball serbia and a few others are just better teams

Mills and Giddey take so many shots because the offence has so little action, the defence isn't shifting. That said, Giddey needs to learn to give the ball up and get it back and then attack the D.

Now for the second act of Australia v Serbia in 18 hours time. Redemption!!

Let's hope so, Big Ads!

"who ever was drawing up the inbounds plays seriously failed today"
_ ___
Spot on.

Why on earth pass it directly to Mills when he had the tightest defense on him???
Reath was ooen at the top of the key.
If anything, Mills should've been the decoy for the inbound.
Unbelievable screw up.


The thing that's most disapointing about this game is that when Serbia made their run and generated a momentum shift, we shit ourselves and went completely away from any offensive composure and instead resorted to desperation shots and drives directly into traffic - and
that's entirely on the coaching staff.

Serbia are a far better drilled team and thats why they executed more consistently through the game.
Even the shots that they missed in the 2nd half were not bad shots.
On the ither hand, we're over looking mismatches, and instead driving directly into Jokic and getting blocked, or jacking up highly contested 3's early in the shot clock.


It just wreaked of no composure, and sorry to be blunt, but that has to be on the coaching staff.

We have/had potential to play for a medal and on the basis of effort and defensive intensity, fully deserved to.
Where we fell dismally short was in consistency and execution

I think it's fair to say the team improved since the world cup, and if not for a few juvenile turnovers we'd be talking about the medal rounds. This is a really tough competition and I think we'v competed well, but unfortunately, not well enough to stand with the top 4. I am not sure I'd call it a failure as such. It's solidified Giddey and Daniels as go-to guys of the future, and put McVeigh squarely in a bench shooter role. Hats off to him for having the nerve for some big shots. Will be interesting to see where we will rank in the tournament after everything is tallied - I suspect 5-6th. That's probably about what most expected. If this is fairwell to Patty, mate, thanks for everything. Delly, you kept fighting all the way through. And Joe, kinda weird to see you glued to the bench but you've been in this for like 15 years now and worn the colours with pride.

2028 Olympics

Exum 33 y/o

Cooks 33 y/o

Landale 33 y/o

Reath 32 y/o

McVeigh 32 y/o

Thybulle 31 y/o

White 31 y/o

How many of those 7 players do you think will play in the 2027 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics? Most of them probably won't.

Great observations and analysis Hooping.

Some good summaries there - the too old and too young is a fair call to a certain extent. It was always going to be that scenario this Tournament. Really depends on the coaching staff to see what will happen next tournament as structure is what seems to be the key ingredient missing.

Agree with a few other posters that the Ingles spot was a complete waste - certainly a few better options with players that could actually hit the court.

Lets hope the right coach is appointed to take the young talent forward. Scott Roth may not be interested but someone like him would ensure that everyone plays their role correctly.

Man Josh Giddey's post game interview was hard to listen to :( the emotion and passion so evident

Boomers 21 fouls to 18 is pretty comical.
No flop warnings on Serbia just as funny.

Ingles playing 2.5 minutes in 1 game and 3dnp and not even taking a shot really makes for a baffling selection now.

You can't play twelve guys, whoever was in that spot wouldn't be playing.


There's no such thing as a technical for excessive timeouts, and I didn't see anything to indicate Serbia tried to call timeout anyway.

The Serbian assistant coach immediately called for a Time out at the end. Someone grabbed him and tried to pull him back. The refs then stopped the game for 30 secs which allowed them time to get organised, otherwise they should have only had 5 seconds to throw the ball in.

Almost bet there wont be any mythical travel calls in the other quarter finals.

The last foul called on the Landale, the lead referee was right on top of the call, and I think one of the other refs may have made the call.

The Serbian assistant coach immediately called for a Time out at the end. Someone grabbed him and tried to pull him back. The refs then stopped the game for 30 secs which allowed them time to get organised, otherwise they should have only had 5 seconds to throw the ball in.

France won against Canada.
A very soft game and a very disgusting game
The Olympics and the referees wanted France to win.
France should have lost to Japan and Canada.

Olgun sayin likely patty's last game for the boomers.

Canada 5th
Australia 6th
Brazil 7th
Greece 8th
South Sudan 9th
Spain 10th
Japan 11th
Puerto Rico 12th


Semis
Germany vs France
USA vs Serbia

STATS

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/mens-olympic-basketball-tournament-paris-2024/teams/australia#statistics


KAY
4/19 mins pg, 4.5pts, 3rbds, 0.3asts

GREEN
4/11 mins pg. 0pts, 0.5rbds, 1.3asts

REATH
3/10.5 mins pg, 3pts, 1.7rbds, 0asts

MAGNAY
4/9.8 mins pg, 1.8pts, 2.8rbds, 0.8asts

DELLEVEDOVA
3/9.1 mins pg, 1pt, 1.7rbds, 1ast

INGLES
1/2.5 mins pg, 0pts, 0rbds, 0asts


We were basically playing the tournament with half a squad.

Gold vibes only baby but we can't beat the Euros year after year in the games that matter. Plan A or die. Known worldwide as 'good but no killer mentality’ and rightfully so. Double figures now? of blowing big leads to Euros in knockout and medal games and/or turning it over in EOG situations.

Bite the bullet and employ a proven medal winning euro coach now
for the next four year cycle. What we do doesn’t win medals (consistently).

(But thanks Patty, Joe, Delly, it’s been real, friends forever)

I am going to put it out there.
I am no fan of Simmons.
He would have made a MASSIVE difference.
I think we need to get behind this guy and let bygones be bygones.
His decision-making, ability to post up smaller players would absolutely kill at this level.
Hopefully he can be brought in and want to be there??

Joking by the way - What a last quarter. That is CLASS!!

Sorry JOKIC. Damn autocorrect.

Probable pool to choose from going forward...

PG
95 Exum 6'6
98 Mcdowell-White 6’5
02 Giddey 6’8
02 Armstrong 6’5
04 Proctor 6’4
07 Daniels 6’5
SG
97 Vasljevic 6’2
03 Daniels 6’7
04 Henshall 6’5
06 Fennell 6’6
SF
96 Mcveigh 6’8
97 Thybulle 6’6
00 Green 6’6
02 Galloway 6’6
04 Furphy 6’8
06 Siulepa 6’6
PF
95 Cooks 6’8
96 Bolden 6’10
96 Simmons 6’10
97 White 6’7
01 Travers 6’8
04 Toohey 6’8
C
95 Pinder 6’9
95 Landale 6’11
96 Reath 6’10
98 Humphries 6’11
98 Magnay 6’10
00 Froling 7’0
03 Olbrich 6’10
04 Condon 6’11
06 Zikarsky 7’3

Who else?

Looking back at the tourney the next morning:

Most Surprising: McVeigh/Daniels. Daniels I didn't think was ready and he really proved me wrong (even with a quiet game last night). McVeigh I didn't give a shot in hell of making the squad initially but he was arguably our most reliable shooter. Had a few learning moments (fouling 3pt shooters, finishing over size), but overall he was really solid and crept his way into our "closing lineup" by last night.

Most Disappointing: Josh Green. By a long shot - no confidence in his shot and didn't make a single bucket. I thought he'd fill in the role Daniels ended up in. A bigger role in Charlotte next season (presumably) might serve him well.

All-Boomers 5: Giddey-Mills-Daniels-McVeigh-Landale, honorable mention to Exum.

McVeigh has been solid all tournament and looks to have snatched the Goulding role for this squad. Rather than being a speculative shooter, or the idea of a shooter, like Goulding is at this level, McVeigh legitimately hit big shots in a big game and had a real world and tangible influence on the tournament. That puts him squarely in future projections.

Exum was himself. Great. Expect more of him. Josh Giddey had some rookie mistakes but he's going to be the next guy to carry the torch next to Daniels. Green played poorly but he's going to be there again. I dont have questions around whether he can impact the team in future. He's got all the talent to be just fine. Jock Landale is exceptional at this level. Very safe hands with him in the middle.

To this you'll be adding Johnny Furphy, Tyrese Proctor, Rocco Zikarsky, and a range of other players that make the future look even brighter than the past. I want to just add Im getting Scottie Pippen vibes from Dyson Daniels.

With all this said I want to pay respect to Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and Matthew Dellavedova. They elevated the Boomers program across a decade and their contributions to this team should not be just seen as what they maybe didn't do this time, but for what theyve done year in year out. Patty Mills and Joe Ingles debuted for the Boomers in 2007 and 2008 respectively. That's 16-17 years of commitment to the program. They brought our first wins to a US team, our first medal, and set a standard to be followed. Give them their flowers for that.

Heartbreaking to come so close to beating Serbia but really we never deserved to win that game. The 24 point lead early in the 2nd was fools gold they were always going to ramp up their defence and get back in the game I just didn't expect the lead to evaporate as quickly as it did.

The 3rd quarter was embarrassing I reckon we had almost as many turnovers as points, we looked like boys playing against men. As bad as our ballhandling and passing is under immense pressure I'm not sure the coaching staff can be blamed for that. Giddey is too inexperienced, Patty is too old and Exum & Delly just don't have the smarts/skills to cope with that.

It probably wouldn't have made much difference but I still would've preferred Cooks over Kay. Kay is too robotic like Magnay and if he's too reluctant to shoot he's a bit useless. At least Cooks weaves in and out gets in the cracks makes things happen, springy, good on the boards and plays good defence. Can't shoot but does virtually everything else.

Landale disappointed me last night, one game where we needed to get something out of him he was non-existent offensively never goes up strong on the boards always tippy tap BS whilst putting his arm on the other guy for leverage because he knows he doesn't have much of a leap. The silly fouls he gave away under the ring and kept doing it. Magnay looks very limited at this level, his athleticism of his Bullets days now a distant memory and Reath not up to it either.

On the plus side McVeigh keeps surprising and has shown he belongs at this level with his Goulding-like microwave bombs off the bench. Daniels too showed some good promise early in the tournament but seemed the three ball went away as it went on. Patty was on fire in the first half but was never going to be able to keep that going when Serbia ratcheted up the defence, plus he's too old now to do stuff like that for a whole game. Fantastic effort.

In reality we were always going to need a lot of luck to beat Serbia, we got it and almost did. No shame in losing to that team in OT. Jokic is just too much for our bigs to hang with and took over late and played like the superstar he is.

Let's keep things in perspective. One unexpected loss in the whole campaign and that loss didn’t make a difference. This campaign was never really designed for us.

Hearing a disappointed tone amongst many today but we were underdogs in that match and even though we could beat them we really weren’t the better team. Yes, we have NBA players but many are either on their way in to the NBA or on their way out. Don’t discount a seasoned Euroleague player playing in a system and team they know (just look at France vs Canada). But 'We were up by 24’, ‘we won two quarters’, ‘if we didn’t turn it over’. None of that means anything. There’s probably a Serbian hoops.rs talking about the opposite and how terrible they were to let us get out that far and how their adjustments caused turnovers. When we were bad we were mostly made to be that way by incredible (but expected) responses by these teams.

We will get there because we have all the tools in place to fix our areas for improvement. We have a young and talented core entering their primes. These players are getting better each campaign and are in a place to continue their development in the NBA.

We landed where we should have, Aussies dont want to hear it or believe it but when you look at it logically we are a 5th to 8thish team.

Serbia always had the better team, they have 3 of the best 4 players, Jokic, Bogdanovic, Micic are better players than all of ours other than Giddey who is 21 and still maturing as a player, gotta stop pretending these European guys cant play and its Jokic and scrubs.

Theres a reason why they came 2nd and we came 10th last year, yes we improved, but not to that level in 1 year.

I think its just where Australia sits in world basketball, we just gotta be real

Great to hope for a medal, i was too, but realistically we shouldnt expect it, so should actually be fairly proud of this team, we probably got closer to the top 4 taking Serbia to OT than we should have,

Some random thoughts
- we seemed to play too much on emotion. The first quarter was magical, we played relaxed, and everything went our way. After that, we grew frustrated and couldn't think our way out of the slump, instead tightening up on our shots and dribbles, or taking risks.
- was Giddey trying to play hero ball, thinking he was carrying the team on his back, or was he told to play that way? Why the f..k wasn’t he sat down as soon as he went knucklehead mode? (Throughout the tournament)
- that last inbounds play was ridiculously bad
- if Johnny Furphy and Dash Daniels come in and are better PGs (and safer with the ball), where does that leave Giddey in the rotation? He’s a combo guard, along with a number of others, when we need specialist PGs and SGs; could he get pushed to the bench?
- as usual, Goorjian waited too long to call a time-out once Serbia started their run
- we seemed to stop looking to move the ball quickly after the first quarter. The most obvious time was when Landale was running the sideline with no one in front of him to stop the fast break, but he wasn’t watching the ball and the guy with the ball (Giddey from memory) was too busy dribbling. There were others.
- good to see Giddey and Daniels prepared to shoot 3s, and making them. Their shot mechanics are too slow, but it’s a start.
- McVeigh and Daniels were easily the most improved players, for me.

I think we could see Luke Travers play a bit of a prime Joe Ingles role moving forward with the team, with him looking like picking up an NBA deal and released now from the deal with United.

Mills is the sole reason we are in games, whilst at the same time we are losing games... he hits bad shots and we all scream FIBA PATTY! But when those bad shots dont drop it hurts us and takes us out of the flow of the offence. We dont "just get he ball to Patty" he gets the ball and then stops the flow because he wants to play the hero. I seen a number of times he missed getting the ball in to mismatches on the post with Reath down there, or ignoring McVeigh on the wing for a open shot.

Giddey is 21, I give him a pass as he will only improve. All in all though 1-3 over the tournament shows we didnt deserve the win either way.

Mills was a legit hero in the first half, but his defensive lapses throughout the game were also seriously damaging against a team like Serbia who know how to make you pay for it. Despite a hot start, Mills finished an average 10/21 from the field. In the future, we will need a proper offensive system.

When our defense was strong and we forced stops, we were running -- and avoiding the half-court game -- and FIBA Patty was in town, we looked amazing. Second half, when Serbia started to hit shots, fouling to stop the break, slowing the game down, forcing the Boomers to play half-court, we looked terrible. A well drilled team in the half-court doesn't turn the ball over like that. It was embarrassing. Was it 5 turnovers in a row near the end of the 3rd? It made Giddey and Mills look worse because the onus was on them to create something. Same down the stretch, when we reverted to iso ball.

It's all good to be a team that prides itself on defense and can take advantage of that D by running, but we still need a reliable option in the half-court.

Hoopie: please tell say you have a wrong name in this comment

"if Johnny Furphy and Dash Daniels come in and are better PGs (and safer with the ball), where does that leave Giddey in the rotation?"

Furphy is a wing not a PG.

Say what you want but seeing Giddey post game interview showed what it meant to him. So much shit spoken on here about a guy who is only 21. Has a long way to go in his career.

My bad if I misunderstood both their roles - I thought I'd read that they were very good dribblers and passers, which might see them develop as international PGs

I meant your reference to Dash, you obviously meant Dyson, surely.

Dyson impressed me heaps, but I don't see him as a safe or explosive enough dribbler to be a true international PG like a Delly.

I’ve obviously misunderstood Dash’s abilities and likely future role, based on limited knowledge.

Maybe we can convince Aussie Kyrie Irving to play for Australia at LA.


The US of A won't require his services, he'll be only be 36 yrs old, and the team can stay with him at his old man's malibu beach house between games.

Kyrie has already played for the USA and Australia isn't a developing nation basketball-wise so won't happen.

Thanks for replying Z, but it was posted in jest.

Giddey in 4 years will be a seasoned pro. As will Dyson and Jock. The team spirit has been passed onto the next gen. Look out.