Alarm is set again, Im going to be totally buggered by the end of the week!
Japan has had 2 really great wins already, 1pt win over Belarus and easily beat Brazil by only 2 less points than the Opals did and kept them to 66 points, same as the Opals did.

If we don't step up a gear we could easily drop this one, just as we did in London, which is the game that cost us a top 2 finish there. France may have lost their starting PG but they still have some experience and quality in the front court.

Hopefully the day off has recharged our batteries.
I want to see much more movement, and some attack mode from everyone rather than just Liz.

Burton got a rebound!
Our fortunes are turning around here.

Opals lead 21-19 at quarter time.

Liz looked on a mission and then promptly sat herself on the bench with foul #2 after only 3:30 on court. Grrrrrr....

Penny has finally shown up though.

Website is down again, shockingly. At least NBL TV loaded.

Leilani, Penny & Liz should never all be sitting at the same time.

Watching on a borrowed iPad, which just cut to the national anthems.

Not with lame passes like that she won't
:/

Close to muting sound. Horrible commentary. Shocking combination of someone who clearly doesnt know anything about basketball and Lauren Jackson who needs to be prompted to speak most of the time.

Oh please. That pass was laughably bad.

Nice half though. Much more Opals-like.

He certainly micro-manages from the sidelines doesn't he.

Well this one's all but in the bag :)

Burton and Lavey doing their best to keep the French in it!

I would love to know why Joyce is such a fan of Burton. She is horrible and barely gets by in WA SBL let alone on the International stage.

Final score 89-71

PFT 31 points @ 77%, 9 assists, 5 boards, 3 steals & a block celebrating the 10 year anniversary of her nickname in the same country she earned it.

3 from 3 great start by the team. Fine tuning will see further improvement.

Still cannot believe the number of "haters" posting negative comments

Much better performance by the team. Liz fouling herself to the bench early was almost a blessing in disguise in a way. Movement was far better, and Hodges & Tolo did well with their minutes.
Strange use of Talbot - entering the game in the 1st quarter but that was about it for her.

Penny's ridiculous game made it a bit flattering though. Still significant improvement needed, but at least we looked a better team than in games 1 & 2.

You nailed it the other day Luuuc when you talked about the offence in Turkey two years ago, quick ball movement and the players just taking what the defence gave them. It was beautiful to watch.

With Cambage in the middle it has changed, she can't really play that style, but she is a great focal point so needs to be used.

It was forced by foul trouble but I think tonight showed it works best with Liz in smaller doses as a focal point and then quick moving team offence the rest of the time.

Great win, now 3-0 and +41, can't complain about that. Now for Japan, they could well be an interesting test.

Also, great to see Hodges back in the rotation, she's an important player for us.

Great win!

Olympics: Taylor stars as Opals defeat France, win third straight

It was good for Liz to get a good rest during this game, she will be the difference against a smaller Japanese team, expect her to have a massive game.

watching/listening to the timeouts, the team are executing what Joyce wants. Harmony appears great! Liz also is on board.

Good win v France - somewhat of a bogey team...

They seemed to miss Dumerc more then I thought, she was a main reason for the win v the opals in 2012.

Great to see Taylor play so well. Shame she is hanging up the boots, she still have a lot to offer.

It is a shame, yes. She wants to go out on her own terms and while she is still playing good basketball rather than waiting until she is no longer wanted, and I totally respect that.
But from a selfish viewpoint, even when she slows down even further she'd still be an instant inclusion in the 2018 WC team due to her basketball iq. She's the Opals all-time leader in that category, with daylight in second place and night time in 3rd.

The time she has missed (other than the ACL recovery itself) was all voluntary though. She has just been super smart with her workload, with the aim of being 100% for these Olympics and then being able to have a crack at one last WNBA title when they're over. Skipping the last WNBA season, opting for a partial Chinese season over playing WNBL ... she has timed it perfectly. The ultimate pro.

I've got no doubt she could manage her body through another 2 years if she wanted to. She just doesn't want to, and fair enough too. It'd be a long commitment for very little financial reward. (If 2018 was an Olympic year rather than a WC one, I suspect it might be a different story)

2019 is the next WCs (not 2018).

That extra year will see a lot of aging players retire from international basketball after this Olympics.

Women in 2018, men in 2019.

Sandy might be mentoring herself out of a job the way Phoenix is travelling this season.

Apologies for incorrectly correcting you Luuuc

Women in 2018, men in 2019.

Anon, George and Burton are the same age as Tolo, why wouldn't they be playing the worlds at age 29?
Mitchell and Phillips would be 33, younger than what Taylor is now, if they want to keep playing I would think both would be capable.

Kobz, FIBA created a new calendar for men based on getting more of the best players at the WC. The main strategy to achieve that is making the WC the qualifier for the Olympics, hence the move to the year beforehand.

Another strategy is having only one continental championship every four years (currently every two) so players have one year every four where there isn't a tournament in the off-season. FIBA decided to make that the middle year (ie 2018, 2022 etc) and have the women’s WC as the showpiece basketball event of that year.

So the changes to the international schedule only apply to the men?

^^ Burton and George if they have not improved by now another three years will not make much difference, they will just be even slower, Blicavs, SCHERF and Bunton will be in their prime with plenty of experience under their belts too

Rest will still be in college and NO experience playing against women, those in the WNBL would be better than the college kids of Smith and Froling, Cof E kids probably still too young

At this point Kobz, yes. I believe FIBA are looking at the women's side of things now, but I doubt there is the revenue to run home and away WC qualifiers like the men at this stage.

Seebohm was arguably the best coach in the WNBL and I believe he then turned down a contract extension. He's certainly considered good enough.

Gorris is out of CofE now he's at the helm of Canberra WNBL , doubt he would be doing un19 worlds

Waiting for end of Olympics stats on Burton and how Joyce could justify her spot.

One he would point to for both Burton and Hodges is that in five official internationals this year (3 at OQT, 2 in Rio) Endy Miyem was averaging 15.2p at 60%, 3.4or and 2.6a. Against the Opals she had 10p at 36%, 0 o-boards and 1a.

The two of them did a super job, especially keeping her off the offensive glass.

College ball is a long way from WNBA/WNBL and the Olympics.....SMU play in one of the weakest comps for women,
Don't compare USA Stewart to the rest in college, she was outstanding from day one, and even she isn't a main player YET for USA.

All these names being thrown around need to be able to make the transition into women's basketball, and those in college now will still be in college by next worlds.

It's not saying any of them aren't good players for their age, but be realistic

"College ball is a long way from WNBA/WNBL and the Olympics"

And the WNBL is a long way from the WNBA or even EuroLeague.

That's my point.......

There's an old saying in Basketball : ' Get loose .'

I'd be unable to play properly with this Opals coach.
Tooo nervous for me.
Shut up and let them play.