Is that 9:30pm Australian time or China time?

So 9:30pm Eastern Australian time?

Awesome i need my little NBL fix. Anyone else pumped for next season?

Is there a live stream option?

If I'm correct, then any games shown on 501 will be able to be streamed live and free via the Fox Sports app on Apple TV.

So, who made the Aus NBL team?
Do we recognise any names on Team China?

This could be an interesting watch, but remains to be seen...

Free live stream for all three games: http://pages.nbl.com.au/china/

Any particular reason why Mickell Gladness is playing for Australia?

I think the reason Gladness gets a gig is that China's 50th best big would probably drop 50 if he wasatched up on an Aussie front line of Garlepp and Kicks.

I really hope that this means that my dream of seeing Gladness in a Wildcats jersey next season comes true.

Would love to be able to watch stream through NBL app

Where can I find China's roster? Is Zhou Qi playing?

I did a bit of a preview here:

http://www.nbl.com.au/featured-news/cpa-australia-nbl-australian-team-preview-china/

No Zhou Qi, Yi Jianlian, Guo Ailun, Zhao Ji Wei or Wang Zhelin. This is basically guys playing for spots 6-12 in Rio, although Zhou Peng, Zhai Xiao Chuan and Ding Yanyuhang are playing and they'd have to be close to locks.

I'm looking forward to seeing Zhao Yan Hao and Zou Yu Chen play, two teenagers who could well make Rio if they perform in the lead-up.

Either that or Gladness is going for Australian citizenship, which is fine by me. I wouldn't mind having him in the Boomers team for those qualifying matches which will happen during the NBA season, and will keep us from having our best players at the time.

Not sure if that will ever happen, but not a bad thought.

Why would he be going for citizenship? He was here for six months a couple of years ago. So even if he is, it's years away.

Well, who knows. You can atleast assume he is deep in negotiations with an NBL team right now.

Trying out for Lemanis?

That would be my first assumption, but don';t they have enough big men already?

You'd think he'd be trying to impress Chinese teams, they have much deeper pockets!

Is the stream in English or Mandarin?

One assumes it'll be the Fox Sports coverage, which will have commentary from Matt Russell and Steve Carfino.

Gladness trying out for Lemanis is a good point...

Game has been terribly difficult to watch for me. Numerous poor turnovers from the Chinese (is this their third team?), questionable refereeing (to be expected) and Carfino commentating.

Great that the game is being televised, but think I'll tune in to something else now.

I am pleasantly surprised by the Australian team. Considering this is their first game together, they are playing some sound defense and are making opportunities for themselves on offense.

Blanchfield is probably making the biggest Boomers claim at this point. He is splashing it from everywhere and making it look like a training run. He might surprise a few and knock a Newley or a Goulding out of the Boomers team at this rate.

For a bunch of guys fighting for maybe 1 or 2 Boomers spots, they're looking good.

And I don't hate Carfino on the mic like everyone else does. Please remember we had to bear Homicide for half of a season.

The stream is a combination of english and gibberish.

Second half is pure garbage. Now I am concerned for the Boomers. We have had a terrible quarter and Lemanis hasn't thought to make any real changes. Plus the Chinese refs are so ridiculously bias.

Lemanis just demonstrating why he shouldn't coach the Boomers. We should be up by 20 right now.

Well they keep going to an option that isn't working. Kickert inside isn't working, they need to move away from it.

Reffing aside, think that Lemanis is really sub par with his coaching. Why not play Gladness in the third when China's bugs were dominating? As much as I love Mitch Norton, dumb repetitive drives into the key to either travel or be blocked. Think wagstaff, blanchfield and Kickert have tried hard.

Is part of the NBL's deal to do this 3 game friendly is to play in the first half then let China take over in the second half? Lol

Relax lads/ladettes, we have David Barlow, Majok Majok, Lucas Walker and Jason Cadee out there.

Lucas Walker looking like one of those gun div. 3 scorers who steps up to div. 1 having never played against anyone taller than 6'4.

I was on the Blanchfield bandwagon in the first half, but the whole team was rattled, and fairly easily I might add.

The referees weren't helping. It seems that you could clobber Aussies, but if you are within 10 feet of a Chinese near the basket, the foul is called.

Having said that, you cannot blame the referees for some of the poorest shooting ever committed to worldwide television. I don't think there is any big Asian audience stroking their beards and saying, "yes, let's get THIS league on our shores."

NBL might have done itself a disservice with this series.

Meanwhile, you have Gladness on the bench. He is the obvious Kryptonite to the Chinese inside game, but Lemanis opted not to use him. It borders on insanity.

Then there is the offense. The boys hit their shots early and managed to make the gameplan look solid. But when the shots stopped dropping, the team went right back to things that were repeatedly failing. I mean, who in the world sets a play for Kickert to post up? What is Lemanis trying to achieve?

This is distressing to watch. It doesn't bode well for our Olympic bid when our coach clearly cannot make adjustments during a game.

The NBL stream worked well for me.

Horrible horrible second half by the All-Australian + Gladness all-stars. We seemed helpless against this second string Chinese side they just put us to the sword both offensively and defensively.

Where were the changes by Lemanis? This game was a microcosm of the criticism of Lemanis' coaching style. Too rigid comes in with his set plans and unable to adapt on the fly. China came out in the second half a completely different team and became the aggressors on both ends and we settled for poor execution after poor execution.

Why wasn't Gladness given more time especially after that big block he did? We could've used some size especially with Kickert our only other guy above 6'9" content jacking up threes all night. I realise Gibson was injured but Cadee should've been given more time to spell a tired and over matched Norton.

Lucas Walker? He should've been dragged after the second or third brainfart was left out their way too long and put us right out of it.

Hopefully Aussie Mik gets more of a run in Game 2 on Sunday night but one positive is we probably couldn't play worse than this again.

We can't afford to have Lemanis steward our most talented team ever at an Olympics. I hope Basketball Australia is watching this and someone is slamming their first on a table, saying "This ends now!"

That game was not pretty.

No way in hell the coach is changed at this late stage.
But come on ... this is nothing remotely like the lineup that will be in Rio.

The line up isn't the issue. I'd even say that the line up we had out there should have comfortably beaten China. But he didn't change anything during the game. Unless he has some plan that is to see these players weaknesses, and not necessarily win games, I don't know what the hell he is playing at.

This game did the NBL's Asian expansion NO favours. And by the way, if we make a team in China, can we not have Chinese referees? Their overt favoritism borders on racism

The reffing in China has always been very biased. NBL teams in the past that have played games in China like the Tigers, Kings & Bullets have been screwed over a number of times it is what it is. You just need to be so much better than them so the refs don't become as much of a factor.

In saying that with the talent we have playing I still think we should be good enough to beat this China team missing 4-5 of it's best players. Our poor coaching is what costs us this game and although Lemanis should be on the next flight home he'll still be our coach at the Olympics and after that we can move on from the Lemanis era. Assuming BA doesn't see fit to give him another four years.

"I don't know what the hell he is playing at."

Correct, you have no idea what he was aiming to get out of this game. I'm sure, however, he will be taking a lot of note of China, who we play in the pool rounds, and showing them as little of our stuff as possible.

These practice games are always ugly, especially the first one, and people act surprised each time! The only thing of note from this game was Blanchfield putting his hand up a little for Rio, although a couple of defensive blow bys didn't help him.

Well even if they keep Lemanis there but bring in another senior coach in coaching staff to be the Charlie Babbet to Andrej's Rainman.

"In saying that with the talent we have playing I still think we should be good enough to beat this China team missing 4-5 of it's best players."

Do you honestly believe a team of mostly NBL second-stringers thrown together at the last minute should be able to beat a national team well versed in their system?

Well, it is interesting that you use the term "second stringers". I am not saying that you're wrong at all (you aren't), but once you get past Goulding, Jawai, Ogilvy, these are actually the best Australians in the league :/.

"Do you honestly believe a team of mostly NBL second-stringers thrown together at the last minute should be able to beat a national team well versed in their system?"

They're not NBL second stringers sure none of them bar maybe Gibson are candidates for Rio but most of these guys are very good players in the NBL. This isn't China's national team most of these guys aren't a part of their national team but yeah they're certainly much better coached than we are. The second half when both sides have had time to have a good look at each other was testament to that.

I just found it depressing. It was a rude awakening to where the standard of Aussies in the NBL actually is.

The Chinese are nothing special, but they actually beat us by about 20 points after the first quarter.

China missing their top 5 players. Boomers missing most of their top "lets say 20"

Bogut, Mills, Delly, Ingles, Baines, Broekoff, Bairstow, Exum, Simmons, Newley, Jawai, AJ, Maric, Goulding, DJ, Knight, Lisch, Madgen, Gibson, Martin, Martin R (yes he is better than Norton and Cadee), Gliddon, Dillon, JK,

AND playing in China with Chinese refs against a squad that has probably been together for a while and has a new defensive focus.

What did you freakin' expect.

We are not that good and China is not that bad.

"What did you freakin' expect."

This is what I'm wondering too.
A team of randoms just chucked together. How much cohesion were people really expecting? and if more than virtually zero, what was the basis of that silly expectation?

I don't think anyone was expecting perfect cohesion. I think we just wanted to see a coaching game plan that reacted to the situation as presented. Instead, we were monstered inside, saw our best inside defender benched the whole game, and we kept feeding it to Kicks in the post where he is not known for operating.

And purely on talent we'd expect to win. These guys are from the CBA, which is not a great league outside of high paid imports. We should have worn this team down and then walked over the top of them. We should have been able to win on talent and athleticism alone. We should also have high standards of the teams that represent us. They were representing the NBL when they came out, and they played like a bad social team and they were coached poorly

"They're not NBL second stringers sure none of them bar maybe Gibson are candidates for Rio but most of these guys are very good players in the NBL."

Incorrect. Apart from Kickert and Blanchfield I'd have the guys tonight as second stringers behind Lisch, Childress, Penney, Ogilvy, Knight, D Martin, R Martin, Goulding, Randle, Warrick, Beal, Prather, Jett, Petrie, Khazzouh, Pledger, Johnson, Holt, Jackson, Abercrombie, Vukona, Worthington, Gliddon, Gibson, Webster, Jawai, Ch Jackson and Kay.

So effectively there are two players from tonight's team in the NBL's top 30 players. That's second string to me.


"This isn't China's national team most of these guys aren't a part of their national team but yeah they're certainly much better coached than we are."

Incorrect. Most likely seven of these guys will be in Rio and two of them will be starters. All of them are in China's top 20 at the moment and all are drilled in the national team system.

If the Aussie team can pinch a game in this series it will be a very good effort.

Maybe I am underrating Chinese basketball because I don't know it. All I do know is by what they presented on court today, we shouldn't have lost to them. They did not look particularly good at all.

The first game of a friendly international series usually looks shithouse. That's not a reflection of the quality of the players, rather the fact they are playing their first serious game in a number of months.

They aren't robots who can just flick a switch, especially when playing with new teammates in a new system.

Tonight a cobbled together Aussie team were up against easily the best defensive nation in Asia, with home refs on their side, and they got shut down. No surprise there. Let's see if they're better by game three.

Maybe you're right. But I think televising this across Asia as a showcase of the league wasn't the way to go - a few scrappy and ugly games that wont make sponsors really want to put money in.

An issue I also have is out of those 30 better players, less than half were Australian. We do need to keep getting Aussie talent coming up and improving in the league.

Exactly half my list were Aussies, and you'd only expect about half to be Australian given we have so much US and NZ talent in the league. I would think that's pretty much always been the case, and if you went back 20+ years it would be less than that.

I agree 100% about not televising that first game, it is a bad first impression. It all seemed a bit rushed, and I guess part of that was to help Boomers prep so Lemanis could look at Blanchfield, Kickert, Barlow, Steindl and Walker.

But if you're doing it from an NBL perspective, it should be a first-rate team you're sending or is it really worth doing? Perhaps that's why the team over there is very much presented as an Aussie one?

The thing with Chinese basketball and their players in general is that apart from a few they certainly do not look pretty and there is not much flair to their game, particularly the bigs. They often look a bit gumby.

What they do well is that they are efficient and play within their limitations. Most of the bigs shoot the ball reasonably well.The CBA league relies heavily on highly credentialed imports for the excitement factor and due to the amount of teams the local talent pool is spread thinner than in the NBL and there is not a lot of focus on D. (which is why I think a good NBL team would win against a good CBA team).

They have one advantage at national team level in that they are able to get whatever squad they need together depending on what they are trying to achieve. After a string of poor results they are also now rebuilding and playing with more of a defensive approach.

Showing these games through Asia may indeed be a bad thing as ( if going by the posts on here anyway) viewers may think that this is some sort of Aussie all star team.

Well, when you hear it is an "All Australian Team" you expect the cream of the crop. Individually these players are "good" but they aren't the best the league has to offer. I would expect they will play better soon enough. And yes, we had the horses to beat them regardless of how far down our pecking order they may be (And the going consensus is they're past the top 20 or so).

Asia just got a stinkfest and poor old Kestleman has the job of asking them if they want more. Maybe they should have done this immediately before a season when they'd have a wider selection, or make it a part of some sort of All Star weekend.

fstos is correct with his post.

ME just gives no respect/knowledge to the Chinese team and shows his normal "Lets get rid of Lemanis" post.

Gladness didn't get used mainly because Lemanis is trying to give as many minutes as he can to the Australian's to prove their ability. Also he has no offensive ability. His great defense gets neutralised against physically strong opponents. Watch his first boxing out attempt from a foul shot, he got pushed away like a little kid.

Also I can't believe how bad Walker was.

I am glad the Sixers are being patient with his signing as his stock is going down fast. If he is after big money then better off using that money on a quality import and get a cheap big perhaps BJ Anthony.

Interesting discussion on the merits of the Australian players in the team. While I favour the view that they wouldn't be your first choice team if all of the NBL's players were available, I think it's a bit extreme to say all but a couple are NBL second stringers.

There were 13 NBL players named in the Rio squad of 26, 8 weeks ago. Six of those players are in this NBL team. That suggests those six at least are in the top echelon of Australian players in the NBL. At least in the eyes of the Boomers' selectors. A couple of others also have played for the Boomers in past series.

I agree with the view that none of us really knows what the point of this series is. It's likely NBL (Kestleman & Loeliger) have one set of objectives, the coaches have another set and the players each have their own. Ultimately, there's no prize for winning these games, so that's unlikely to be in the coaches' primary objectives.

"There were 13 NBL players named in the Rio squad of 26, 8 weeks ago. Six of those players are in this NBL team. That suggests those six at least are in the top echelon of Australian players in the NBL."


Are you saying Mitch Norton, Clint Steindl, Lucas Walker, Mitch Creek and Angus Brandt are in the top echelon? How many of them will even start in the NBL this coming season?

I listed my top 30 NBL players from last season above, and only Blanchfield and Kickert from last night made it. I wouldn't really class players outside the top 35% of the competition as "first stringers".

Anyone have a box score?

Be warned, it's ugly reading:

https://twitter.com/NBL/status/728575445998796800

The 13 NBL players listed are largely there as training fodder or to play specialist roles. This is why you have role players like Brandt in the team. He is a big, young body who will give the Boomers an interesting piece in training - nothing more. Mitch Creek is an example of the type of athleticism they'll have to play agsinst, plus he is young enough to MAYBE develop into a Boomer down the line. Only Goulding, Gibson and maybe Blanchfield have any real look into Rio from an NBL perspective, and you can guarantee it wont be all three.

Lucas Walker with nearly 2x more shot attempts than any other Aussie - definitely what you want to see.

I guess someone had to throw it up. The team sorely lacks scorers. But then again, it's China. Jasson Cadee should be able to show his NZNBL form.

Jawai also a real chance of making Rio. Kickert would be an outside chance but really needs to shoot the eyes out of it in this series and G1 wasn't a good start.

Blanchfield didn't do his chances any harm last night - 13p, 7r, 4a and 2s - if he can keep that form up for two games he might well make the squad of 16 for camp.

It's definitely a little weird how Walker goes from spot minutes in the NBL to primary offensive weapon in Lemanis's system ...

And on the refs, as much as it annoys and frustrates us, I can't help but think it does more harm to China and its prospects of being internationally competitive. They've struggled in international competition for a while now. Playing in this cloistered home setting doesn't really prepare them well for FIBA play, as they're not going to get those calls/no-calls.

paul - complete the quote. "At least in the eyes of the Boomers' selectors."

I thought someone should point out that the dismissive nature of your view wasn't consistent with the view of the Boomers' selectors. They've effectively rated half of the team as being among the top 20 Australians in the NBL.

As for your question about who'd be starters in the NBL next season, it seems irrelevant to me. Around 40% of the players in the NBL next season will be imports and Kiwis. About half of the 40 starting spots will be filled by imports and Kiwis. Mickell Gladness notwithstanding, none of them were eligible for this team.

The scoresheet completely separates 3 pointers and 2 pointers.
So Blanchfield took 13 shots, which was the most. Kickert took 6 3s. So Walker didn't take as big a difference in shots as the others, it just looks that way because they were all 2s.

It is hard to take China as a basketball nation too seriously when their refs are so bias, and they are quick to start a riot when things don't go their way.

Kickert is a role player in the NBL. His role is to score. He does not do anything else.

I thinks there are three very valid reasons for these games.

1) To build on or explore relationships with the NBL and China and further into Asia. Believe it or not the rest of Asia probably thinks Chinese basketball is OK.

2) To get a free chance to scout some of the players of one our Olympic pool opponents without giving anything away on the other side (because possibly only one of our guys will be there)

3) To get some of the fringe guys some game time against international standard players for zilch cost(as I assume that this will cost BA nothing)

HAHAHA... Ummm, No, Anonymous. Just no.

The vast majority of college players will never make it to a professional league anywhere in the world, and it isn't because of a lack of want or trying.

You should also look up the college resumes of these Boomers guys. Pretty sure most of them lead their team and/or league in different stats or made all conference teams.

The skeleton of NBL teams missing their main contributing players usually beat or have close games with the better college teams. The difference is fairly pronounced.

Bare in mind the guys who star in college, get drafted, come here and basically stink it up like DeAndre Daniels and Marcus Thornton.

There is like, less than 1 percent of all college players with NBA aspirations who have more potential, at least, than anyone in the NBL. But to call even this subpar All Australian team the level of college role players is completely laughable.

Daniel Kickert, for instance:

"In his freshman season at Saint Mary's in 2002-03, Kickert earned All-Freshman team honours by CollegeInsider.com. He finished the season as the only Gael to start all 30 games, tied for 11th in the conference in scoring and had the third-best field goal percentage (52.0%) in the conference"
In his sophomore season, Kickert was named to the All-West Coast Conference first team and earned the Shamrock Office Solutions Classic Most Valuable Player award. He was also named to the Top of the World Classic All-Tournament team. In 31 games (all starts), he averaged 14.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.[4][5]

In his junior season, Kickert was named to the All-West Coast Conference first team for the second straight year. He was also named to the USBWA All-District 9 first team and the NABC District 14 second team, while earning WCC Player of the Year honours by CollegeInsider.com. In addition, he was named to the WCC All-Tournament team after averaging 22.0 points and 4.5 rebounds against Santa Clara and Gonzaga. In 34 games (all starts), he averaged 16.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.[4][5]

In his senior season, Kickert was named to the All-West Coast Conference first team for the third straight year and earned the Shamrock Office Solutions Classic Most Valuable Player award for the second time in his career. In 28 games (all starts), he averaged 16.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. He finished his career ranked first in the SMC record books with 1,868 points"

Or even the ungainly looking Jesse Wagstaff? (bear in mind, I know this is division 2, but many in Div 2 can play Div 1)

"n 2005, Wagstaff moved to the United States to attend the Metropolitan State University of Denver. In his freshman season, he appeared in 31 games (seven starts) and averaged 5.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.[2][3]

As a sophomore in 2006–07, his role and minutes were both increased, playing 32 games (31 starts) and averaging 27.1 minutes per game. His production subsequently improved as he averaged 11.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He subsequently earned All-RMAC East Division first team honours, and was named the 2007 RMAC Tournament MVP.[2][3]

As a junior in 2007–08, Wagstaff continued his strong play and production. In 31 games (all starts), he averaged 14.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game.[2][3]

As a senior in 2008–09, Wagstaff again had a great season as he earned RMAC East Division Player of the Year honours. In 31 games (30 starts), he averaged 17.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game"

They were hardly roleplayers in college.

Lucas Walker played the worst game of basketball ive ever seen, Daniel Kicker it so overrated its not funny! The refs were terrible but those guys didnt help at all. Toddy B the only bright light in that team. Terrible game of basketball

This team that's playing in China would finish on the bottom of the NBL.

Anonymous, I have been critical of the team, but they were thrown together a few days ago and they're a month or two out of playing regular ball.

And once again, you're overrating college role players, many of which will never play in a professional league. You do know there are plenty of college stars that go to shitbox leagues beneath NBL and China, right? And I am talking about guys who were very good college players.

College is a very big pool and the talent is spread thin. They just look impressive because, yes, they're often athletic.

Also, you cant really base the performance of an NBL team against a college team on the Beijing Ducks losing to them, and an Australian NBL slap together team losing to China's (almost) A team. Games have been played against NBL teams using solely NBL role and development players and generally the NBL teams win, or it is close. That is without the 3-4 best Aussies and the imports. So NBL has been compared directly to college and it comes off favourably.

"So yeah, I'd say this NBL squad would struggle against the top 25 college basketball teams any given season."

This NBL 'all-star' team would touch up any college team convincingly. You're talking about seasoned professional men playing against amateur kids the vast majority of whom are never good enough to play at a pro level.

College teams come out here and struggle to beat half-arsed NBL teams full of development players and squad members.

Haha, but oh no Zodiac. We lost to China with that half assed team, and the Beijing Ducks lose to college teams.. so somehow that is relevant to our standing in comparison to college teams... says Anonymous.

Half of the Taipans team is either at this level or above. You're joking if you dont think Cam Gliddon and Mark Worthington wouldn't be starring on this team if they were available. Then throw in imports and Torrey Craig and Tragardh

I watched the first game, BAD. They should have sent an ALL SEABL team, they would have done better. Andrej Lemanis is a very over rated coach, Offence BAD, Defense BAD, Rotations BAD. Chinese team are a bunch off spuds????? If your going to play, at least send some players that can shoot a little. Stop driving at the 7 foot Chinese players and learn to pull up?

Yeah they didn't adjust to the only strength China had, which was inside and the referees. I am hopeful that they atleast look like a basketball team of some sort tonight

They're looking much better today but they still seem a little lost on offence at times. I am not sure why Lucas Walker is taking the bulk of the shots. Cadee and Gibson looking solid. Good to see some adjustments made. I'd like to see more steindl out there.

What is/was the score?

... and we're back to junk

And please dont call these guys the Boomers lol. The best of them might pass the Boomers their water in a game

Well, they might be in 2018 when the qualifiers happen during the NBA season. We will only have our best NBL and Euro players, so add Broekhoff, Goulding, Khazzouh, Jawai etc to this roster.

Nah, Kickert can bugger right off. He's never worked on international stage and he's been on and off it for over a decade now.

We're up 31-23 again at the half now lets see if we can avoid getting flogged again by China in the 3rd quarter.

Good to see Barlow dunking again after MU tried to push him into retirement before the start of last season. He looks like he could still be an effective player in the NBL.

ME, Kickert played for that poor Boomers team at the 2006 World Champs. He was useless.

Just get Walker off for the love of god.

Yes, it was a shit team but we almost knocked Greece of somehow. It still had a few good players like Bruton, Bogut, Mackinnon.

Gibson looks the best out there

I'd say probably D.. The C team would atleast have Goulding, Jawai, and the better Aussies in the NBL

Guys who are fringe Boomers who would be in 'this' team if available are guys like DJ, Knight, D. Martin, Gliddon, Worthington, Petrie, Ogilvy, R. Martin, Lisch, Goulding and Blanchfield is out injured.

Joey please get on the phone to Gladness!

The refs have been a lot better this game.

That massive block the big chinese guy did on Gladness was huge.

Just get Walker off for the love of god.

Turns it over and then immediately fouls a guy when he's got a guaranteed lay up to give up a potential three point play.

"I'd say probably D.. The C team would atleast have Goulding, Jawai, and the better Aussies in the NBL"

Pure gold. Those two have played in our A team the past two years!

The same guy with another big block on Majok.

I like the way that big young chinese guy goes about his business.

Yes but they'd lead a C team with some other NBL guys. There is some bleeding between teams obviously.

Lol. Majok Majok isnt good enough for Rio

As if its Wagstaff to bring us back lol.

7 points just like that, 64-64!

Some of these chinese players must have some money on us

Wow, I don't think I've seen anything like that finish we scored the last 15 points of the game and win 72-64!

Very good game to watch too

LOL ... nice finish.
It there a crossover round after this series that China is trying to manipulate? :p

"The same guy with another big block on Majok.

I like the way that big young chinese guy goes about his business."

Zou Yu Chen. He's a stud, already a quality big in the CBA at 19.

While some of the ignoramuses on this site bag Chinese basketball, the reality is their best young talent is world class, having finished top 8 in four of the past six junior WCs.

It was great that we somehow eeked out a win from that dire situation. I cant help but think if the All Aus team has as much time together as China did, the class in talent would be more evident and we'd be getting them by 20 in each game.

I expect a fire will be lit under the Aussies now and for us to get a somewhat comfortable third win.

Lucas Walker doesn't seem like the brightest basketball player on the planet, and I am sure his brain gets a little smaller with every bicep curl, but he puts himself in a lot of situations and certainly doesn't disappear from action - for better or worse.

Jesse Wagstaff was unexpectedly the catalyst for the win in a lot of ways. I still think of him like a Footy player who plays social league basketball in the off season, but he did enough to get the win. So kudos to him.

The full court defence was very effective early, I am not sure why we went away from it. That kind of swarming D is what we need in Rio to really give ourselves a shot. The kind of D we played against Lithuania at the World Cup, and here with lesser talent.

China deserves some credit for keeping in a game that they simply didn't belong in. And of course the referees lent a hand in it.

Adam Gibson displayed why he keeps making Boomers teams. Even coming back from injury and playing limited minutes he played good defence and made smart passes. He might not be exciting, and he might disappear, but there is a clear class difference between Adam Gibson and every other point guard on the floor.

It was a good result for All AUs NBL, despite being very patchy offensively. This team doesn't have any noted scorers... so that was to be expected I suppose.

It is probably a nice little baptism by fire for Lemanis here. He is getting to face the absolute worst of international refereeing first up and asked to plan around it.

So far, though, I think only Blanchfield has put his hand up for the squad of 16 for the July camp.

Gibson and Blanchfield have put their hands up. Wagstaff tonight also, but it would probably take another game like that on Tuesday and a couple of injuries for him to really be considered.

Would be nice to see this series played with competent officials. The way it has been called has been biased, but it hasn't allowed any team to play really fluid basketball.

NBL All Australian squad probably should have been:

Gibson
Lisch
Blanchfield
Khazzouh or Johnson
Ogilvy

Martin
Gliddon
Creek
Petrie
Jawai

Stiendl
Knight

And before people laugh at me for Creek, what other Australian NBL small forward would you suggest?

"lets face it. this is a very bad china team who would have been wolloped very badly in both games by a boomers 4th team if not for the help of biased
hometown refereeing. "

Yeah, but we cant excuse the way we played game 1 and in many patches of game 2. I look forward to a comprehensive performance in game 3

It's been the same story with Kicks since 2006. He is 32 now, so it isn't about to change. Simply put, there is no Boomers potential there. He does okay in the NBL where he has a bit of a size advantage to get shots up, but that shit doesn't fly when you're playing against 12 of a nation's very best - and often biggest.

Some of these guys like Walker etc are on the dark end of 30 but being treated like they have a future in the national program, when we have guys 2-3 years older who have international experience who are being put out to pasture (worthington). It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Oh well. Kicks can throw bricks up in this series. It means nothing. But I will shit a brick if he is on a Boomers team

"Yeah, but we cant excuse the way we played game 1."

Of course you can, it was their first game together. Every game one of series like this are butt ugly because there is no cohesion.

I wouldn't go that far. We do want to succeed NOW. If these kids are going to contribute less right now than Blanchfield or Gibson, well I am afraid they will have to wait their turn. It isn't as though there isn't international basketball being played every single year.

As for Thon Maker, we should all cool our jets about him. He is now 19 years old, and escaping college because he knows he will be shown up there. He has the body of a stick insect and his game hasn't developed since his mixtape days. It's just every other kid in the nation has grown and caught up. He has some interesting upsides, but he might not even be an NBL level player if he doesn't pack on some size and improve his shooting percentage.

As for Jonah Bolden, what has he done for me lately?

I am against adding over-the-hill guys at the expensive of dudes barely 2 years older, but I also don't think you should fill Olympic teams with guys because they "might" become something

Is Damian Martin injured or was he simply not picked?

I thought this would have been the perfect opportunity for him to show what he can do and push for a Rio spot.

Is it just that Lemanis simply doesn't like/rate Martin?

Continues to get shafted?

Martin was picked in the A-team last year but got injured, so Lemanis obviously rates him.

I'd say a lot of guys weren't available for this series, hence the team of good but far from great players playing.

Take out the third quarter of G1 and they've done a pretty solid job in the circumstances. Not easy to come together as a team whilst playing eight-man China on their own turf!

Yeah, I wasn't making a comment about the make up of the team. They've done well against adversity.

I've played over there and its extremely tough. You can't even buy a call. Well then again, maybe you can if you've got even yuan ;)

Just would have loved to see Damian Martin in there and thought this was a perfect situation for him.

Definitely a bit undermanned by NBL standards. And I have come along and agreed that these are second stringers. What I do wonder, is considering the difficulties, how do you rate Lemanis' coaching in this series?

Chinese refs aren't doing their national team any favours with their horribly one-sided umpiring (although I wouldn't be shocked if there would be repercussions if they called it any other way). Going to be a rude awakening for them come Olympics time when they don't get to the line any time they take the ball to the basket. Makes it seem like a waste of time travelling to China to play games, especially with the amount of knocks guys are taking from China's physical play.

I'll enjoy watching them get trampled by 20-30 points each game in Rio.

Oh yes, so will I. I usually find CHinese people to be really humble, but Chinese basketball is full of brutes who just try to bully their way to wins because they lack the talent to be competitive.

I think the question the NBL now has, is do they really want China involved in the nBL?

I don't really understand the obsession with trying to get China involved in our league. I mean, I do understand THE reason ($$$), but I find it difficult to envision the actual payoff. It seems more like the NBL thinking 'Hey, there's heaps of people in China who love basketball, and some of them have a lot of money! Surely they'd love to watch their teams get beaten by Australia!'.

I'd love an Asian 'Euroleague' type of setup with a mixed pool of FIBA referees, but there's probably not enough talent in most of the Asian leagues to make it competitive at this stage.

If it was a Chinese NBL team the team would have to be run by Australians and the rosters would have to be mainly imports and Australian to be competitive. If we were to have a champions league, we would probably just maul them unless they use Chinese referees. It's looking less and less like the golden goose.

Good on Dre telling the refs how it was at the start of the game, not a huge dre fan but really respected him for that. Wagstaff was handy all night same with jase both guys played with lots of heart and were not going to take that disrespect from the chinese refs. Mickel was a huge presence inside feel bad for the big fella, smacked in the lip game 1 then cut up his fingers game too. Hope nothing to bad happens to him on Tuesday. Mickel would be a handy player to have on your team. Hope he will be on a roster come opening night!

Damian Martin last week had surgery to correct his jaw from the Conklin incident. Not sure if he had been asked but wasn't available anyway

Has a boxscore or even the top scorers for Game 2 shown up anywhere yet?

Is anyone else curious why Gladness is even in the team? He's not Australian, he's not a current NBL player. Why don't we just get some off-season NBA players to play in the Australian NBL all stars team?

Someone isn't reading between the lines....

Lucas Walker, comes off the bench for the 36ers yet starts for an NBL All-Aus team.

How does Kickert start? He is the meaning of useless

Why... does... Lucas... Walker...keep...shooting...

Majok Majok Majok Majok!

Lucas Walker... smh... don't know about that first travel, but that one right there, no question.

Why does Walker keep travelling?

Get the clown off!

Tonight has been the worst yet as far as refereeing standard... Ridiculous. We would be up 20 points if the game was called even remotely fairly.

Watch how many uncalled 3 seconds violations China should be called for each trip up the court, too.

Why would anyone want these people in the NBL? And this is just on the court stuff that can be seen by all. What really would worry me is the gambling and possible match fixing etc.

I'll say it again - can't wait to cheer for every Chinese opponent come Rio!

I think the whole China experience will be a wasted effort. The NBL and CBA play at the same time, so we wont be planting an NBL team there. And if we arranged a 'Champions League' set up, we would no doubt be victim to their terrible refereeing, generally poor levels of talent, and their inclination to start throwing chairs when things don't go their way. China are the spoiled little brats of the basketball world. As stated above, I will giggle with glee watching them get creamed by decent international teams.

As for All-Australians today, I can't fault them too much. It looked like their offense started to click and they were making the extra pass. Defense has been fairly solid, and they weren't outmuscled on the boards. Lucas Walker is still getting too much court time. I hope that doesn't mean Lemanis is considering him with any real intent for Rio. Walker is a big lug who can bully his way around the NBL but has no place in international ball.

Jason Cadee played very, very well. Blanchfield chipped in with some of the form that should see him become a camp-of-16 member. Gibson and Barlow were also solid.

If there was a Champions League it would be overseen by FIBA so China would be moderated somewhat.

Great last two games from the Aussies, Cadee just superb, and as ME said Blanchfield, Barlow and Gibson all very solid. Nice to see Kicks find his range at last.

Still with Kicks, though, if he isn't hitting his shot he is completely useless. I really don't want to see him in a Boomers jersey!

Agreed. Fun to watch in the NBL, makes offence pretty at both ends.

I think it only works for him in the NBL because he usually has a height and weight advantage, he can just pop shots over defenders. In international ball he wont be 2-3 inches taller than those defending him and he seems to lose it when the competition is harder. I can't say I've ever been a big fan.

I think Lemanis was making a conscious effort to get Lucas and Barlow extra minutes due to their FA status, and maybe to a lesser extent Gladness... Not as crucial for, say, Steindl, who figures to have half the league trying to negotiate a deal with him.

Lucas was woeful, and Barlow was fairly invisible outside of some stretches (especially late in the game 3). I think Lucas will be in the NBL next year because of his experience and ability to play the 3/4, and whether Barlow is in the league probably depends entirely on what type of $$$ he expects.

"I think it only works for him in the NBL because he usually has a height and weight advantage, he can just pop shots over defenders."

He had no troubles popping shots last night! Kickert's been a quality pro in quality leagues forever and a day, he can hoop, he just doesn't have the D or physicality needed for the international game.

Lucas Walker is fine as energy off the bench. The admirable thing about him is he throws himself into every situation, whether or not there is much gained from it is another issue. He probably shouldn't be said in the same sentence as "Boomer" though

"He probably shouldn't be said in the same sentence as "Boomer" though"

I think we can all agree on that one!!

Cadee ready to kickass with right coach/situation in the NBL.

Strange that no one has given the coach any credit for turning this supposedly ordinary teams performances around under adverse conditions in such a short time frame from the start of the tour.

Lemanis cops plenty on here but surely he had a part to play in the improvement.

Perhaps he does deserve credit? I do know that I am slightly less worried about his coaching at the end of the series than I was at the beginning. That's something.

Lemanis is a very astute coach, I don't think there is much doubt about that. Every Boomers and Opals coach gets canned on here at some point,it shouldn't be taken too seriously.

The good thing about Lemanis is that he had very recent success as a head coach in a high standard league. He also had other teams (Brisbane and potentially others) looking to sign him as head coach.

Did you expect a single tear to trickle down his face at the sounds of "Australians let us all rejoice"?

Any time he plays for his country he plays his guts out. That means a lot more than how stiff he might stand during the singing of a song.

As for Lemanis, I judge coaches on the results in relation to the talent. I can't say whether or not he is getting the most out of the players. My hunch is during the world cup in 2014, he wasn't. We shouldn't have lost to Turkey in the crossover, and every game except the one v Lithuania was underwhelming.

But my mind is open. I don't know the complicated X's and O's but I know when something is off when watching a team. ALl NBA, despite having no noteable scorers, improved by their 3rd game. I am willing to cut Lemanis slack for this.