Things werent looking too good in 2008 after two games either but we won our last three to qualify for the QFs. This team doesnt look as organised or professional as in 2008, but things can turn around quickly with one good performance.

Id be very surprised if we dont spank China, our fullcourt pressure will really trouble their guards. GB on the other hand will be tough if we dont hit shots, because they are good defensively and incredible on the boards.

It beggars belief that Matty Neilsen is playing and Julian Kazzouh and Nathan Jawai are not.

Agree Woody!

We have lost 2 from 2 games so far, but they were against teams that were expected to be in medal contention. Brazil are good, and yet if we shot better and/or turned it over less - we win that game.

Spain are ranked #2 in the world are have been slated by all punters and experts alike as the only team that could be able to challenge the USA for gold.

We had a tough start to the competition, but we still have a chance to win the games that everyone would have expected us to be able to win - against China and GB. Russia is a 50/50 chance.

We are still well in contention to finish top 4 of our group, and still a chance at 3rd spot.

Pre-Olympics I was hopeful of a top 2 spot within our group, but realistically 3rd or 4th were more likely. We arenlt there yet, but we are still well in contention. Way too early to write the Boomers off just yet. Having said that, we need to beat China.

IF we won our next 3 games to finish 3rd, how many people on this forum would change their tune?

As for Nielsen, I agree he has not done a whole lot offensively, but I would argue he has done well defensively. We do not need 5 star players on court, we need a team out there and everyone to play their role. Nielsen I believe is doing just that, but whether someone else could have done that role better is the question that could be asked.

Well said, LC - "We do not need 5 star players on court, we need a team out there".

The only team-work on offense I see out there is the Delly and Baynes tandem. For a bunch of guys who have played together a bit, the boomers have been disappointing. I don't see much sign of players making four or five passes to get someone free for the shot they want and will make.

Are there any stats anywhere on how many passes happened before someone jacked up a shot? I think we'd be pretty low.

Spain had the individual skills and the size to go 1 on 1 all the time, but still had 21 assists. We on the other hand are a team which needs to rely a lot more on working together to get people free for a good shot, and we only had 14. Against Brazil we also had 14.
That says to me that there's too much isolation play and not enough team-work, and that's not going to work against bigger or better or smarter teams.

Couldn't agree more with the Nielson out, Jawai Khazzouh in sentiment. Why even pick Barlow and with Crawford on the bench surely we went in a big or two short

We really need front court depth. These good front courts have smashed us and we honestly look like midgets out there. At least with a couple more bigs we could have conserved some fouls without looking that much worse.

We arent 50/50 against Russia LC, they are at a similar level to Spain, it will take a great effort on our behalf to win that one.

I agree with a lot of whats been said about our bigs
but our guards are too slow for this level and that this why Della is shooting long range runners and Gibson , Wothington and co fouls when they are on the court.
At least Martin would of been able to guard perimeter players?
Plus Martin would have given a better presence to run the team.

Party Mills drives me mental. Even Andrew Gaze, the most optomistic of them all, was tiring of his 'shoot first second and third/ pass fourth when there's 2 seconds left on the shotclock' ways.
At no stage did he realise he was having a terrible shooting night and decide to start setting up his team mates.

I'm with LC too.

The draw makes us look bad because we're winless but all 3 teams we're yet to play are FIBA ranked below us (yes, China and Russia are IMMEDIATELY below us so it's not like we're huge favourites...and GB play well above their ranking but...wait a minute, who's side am I on here?)

Anyway, if we had Russia's draw we'd likely be unbeaten (as they are) but they're probably going to get their arses handed to them by Spain and Brazil in the next 2 games and will come into the final game against us on a 2 game skid.

Anyway, we CAN win all 3 games and finish 3rd in our Group. If we put a run of form like that togehter we CAN give 2nd place in Group A a hell of a fight in the crossover.

Russia only lost one game at the Eurobasket last year, they are very well coached and one of the worlds best teams - I've tipped them for bronze. Ignore their ranking, it is low because they had a down patch from 03-06 but they will jump after this tourny.