Goulding looking comfortable at this level!

The camera angle is shithouse...

No Goulding is rubbish at this level, missed shot, turnover then makes a shot means minus 1

what a bad angle for the fans...

Yup

I'm not a fan of the two C's in the court. Getting run off the court atm.

righto

Thanks Chris!

boomers play with 8, 9 men rotation because the bench sucks

44-43 at H/T

Yeah, more good than bad from Goulding so far. Hate to say it, but this team needs his spark plug scoring.

Have to agree Angus, dislike the bloke but he is needed

Pretty awful looking Team USA geez (too many good players in that team for them not to play better).

How good is Landale!

Goulding is +13 at the half, so fair to say the team has been playing well when he's on the court.

https://m.twitch.tv/nba

Kay being on court isn't so painful when you remind yourself how angry that Adel loving dude who is over all of the NBL selections. :)

"Getting fugly again."

It's actually getting worse now.

Nick kay sucks

Nick "400" Kay
en-bee-aye

Kryptonite is green, maybe the jersey has the same effect on Kay?

Nick Kay had a great training camp!

Nick Kay can't even do an open layup

Don't get me wrong - Kay shouldn't be here and should've been banned after that infamous performance against Japan.

Kay shot that hookshot like all those dudes who don't play, shooting around before a social comp game.

seriously, what is the bloody point of playing Nick Kay ?

We're down 15.
Let's put Kay on

Mmmkay... Lemanis has jumped the shark.

Have said it many many times, some of these nbl guys should never ever play for the boomers in big tournament. Creek and goulding have done very well

We might have used guys like green and makur maker and they would offer the team more.

This is the Nick kay who played more minutes than jonah bolden in the series against canada, Jesus.

Lemanis yet again is toying with his opponents in order not to show his hand in anything. Master coach!

lemanis is paying the price for picking Kay, sobey, gliddon, they offer nothing to the team. Imagine we have guys like Green, Makur Maker and Bolden instead !

Greeh and Makur are not ready. You don't get it do you? Bolden ruled himself out.

Dream on!

Aussie pride, don't give me the " too young " cray. Most players of this usa team are around 22,23

This performance and Lemanis' coaching doesn't seem so bad when reading Makur Maker's repetitiveness.

Aussie pride, don't give me the " too young " crap . Most players of this usa team are around 22,23

Yes and they are playing at a high level in the NBA. What your next best argument?

He did pick Bolden but treated him like an idiot

The game shows the core problem of australian mens basketball.

We have no scorers other than Mills, everyone else is a background player where a 12 point game is often a career high. It works in afl and nrl where the sum of the parts generally wins you the game rather than an individuals brillance.

We grow solid boring players, the days of gaze and heal pure scorers (and terrible defenders lol) is long gone. I dont hate goulding but he is a poor mans james harvey who himself was a poor mans gaze

2022 and beyond will be miserable if lemanis stays as boomers coach

I dont hate goulding but he is a poor mans james harvey who himself was a poor mans gaze

Dave/Makur, this is for you:

5 NBAers were -75 in 124 minutes (-24/40min)

5 NBLers were +5 in 53 minutes (+4/40min)

I've only read comments regarding Kays's first two games vs Canada, but he really wasn't up to it tonight. He must have had one hell of a training camp, because this just seems beyond him. Hope I'm wrong.

I stand by playing Creek at the 4 (which Lemanis did tonight) and bringing in Adel instead of Barlow, and making Kay your 5th big - essentially insurance.

Don't forget the rarely seen Todd!

I'd also like to see Creek at the 4 over Kay against teams like USA and Canada that are going with a lot of bigs shooting 3s.

We need a better system of defending the pick and roll. Leaving the best players in the world wide open for mid-range jumpshots will not get us out of the pool stage at Worlds.

What was the atmosphere like in the stadium? I think I could hear the disappointment on the TV coverage.

Heal commented that he didn't necessarily think Kay fit the team at all.

Atmosphere at the game was very quiet/subdued during gameplay.

I was sitting at the bottom of the first tiered seating and couldn't hear the ball being bounced, ref whistles, all that stuff we’re used to hearing at regular smaller venues. It took away from the atmosphere a great deal I thought. Not a whiner but it would’ve been nice if the court had been mic’d up and the sound piped through the stadium as per a few NBA/NCAA venues.

On another subject, fkn glad I didn’t purchase ground level seating. Does anyone know why the court was raised as such? There would have to be a legit reason right.

Just returned from being at G1.

Aesthetics were unreal for a basketball game. Sound was crisp, lighting was on point and I'm going to remember the 'flash-phone' scene they pulled out in the second half. Some of the pro photos coming from the game capture the scene nicely.

MC's were annoying when they were on, but were quiet during the game, which was nice to see. The only trouble was the atmosphere - crowd was hard to mobilise, especially the ground-level fans weren't contributing to much. There were rumours of 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie', 'Let's Go Boomers' and 'Defence' but they were small pockets that I doubt the players heard on-court. May have needed some MC encouragement early to get that going.

Lemanis' depth was exposed for this game. Missed Crooks, Motum and Bolden at the forward spots. Sure, you'll be able to play Sobey, Gliddon and Kay for some games but the USA is not the team to do so (maybe you can get away with shorting your rotation in the elims). At least Creek isn't overawed against NBA guys. Kay looked out of place - I have to wonder whether they give Bogut/Baynes a go on Saturday.

Atmosphere was what you expect from a c

Almost but... Sad.

I thought it looked awesome on TV.

I wasn't a huge fan of the camera angle, to be honest. Too low and the distance meant it was completely side-on at both ends - like that awful setup they had in Melbourne for the 2007 grand final with a camera on each free-throw line. Got used to it eventually, but it was a bit of an adjustment.

Weird that the US was listed first on the scoreboard and had their branding all over everything.

Some positives- Pretty good first half, made a couple of runs, offense seemed a little more fluid. Goulding was great, I was concerned where on their bench they were going to find any double digit scoring, he could be that man. He looks to have secured that 6 man spot.

Negatives- Kay, Gliddon and quite possibly Barlow are all pretty much unplayable apart from blowouts. Considering how deep Lemanis likes to go into his bench this is seriously concerning. Post game looks like it needs a lot of work, they are still way too reliant on the 3 ball.

By the way serious question - does anyone know why they selected their final team after camp. Most teams are only just making that decision now, US sometime next week, wouldn't it have made more sense to be making decisions after some actual games rather than just a few days of camp.

Any word on TV ratings?

Australia does churn out some great role players but I agree on this team its pretty much Mills and Goulding as our only players who have that full scorers mentality.

I think the trouble with Ingles at the moment is that he has to play such a different role as probably our best all round player in the team compared to him being the 3rd or 4th option in the NBA. I think come the tournament he will be fine though.

Would have much rathered Motum for Kay as he has experience at least. As for Gliddon and Sobey who else really is there at this point with everyone else out.

I think we have to just scrape through to the Olympics and fire Lemanis after this tourney.

Motum would have been really useful. He was getting rotation minutes in a stronger team in Rio and has had a great 3 seasons of club ball since then. Him not being in the team is farcical.

Atmosphere in the venue was lacking, but that was expected.

What was disappointing was the game night "entertainment" and the overall presentation, including the constant noise in between breaks, the overbearing MC's, and zero attempt to get the crowd involved during the actual play. It all missed the mark for me, I’m sorry to say.

With the media focusing on the seating issues, it makes me wonder whether they would’ve been better hosting this at Rod Laver Arena. Or even AAMI Park- where some of the same issues would’ve occurred but to a much lesser degree.

This whole thing feels like a terrible missed opportunity- and whilst there were factors outside the control of the promoters, some things could’ve been done better.

In the actual game Australia played reasonably well, except for the pick and roll D where Team USA picked them apart from midrange. Bogut and Baynes are scared of showing too hard at the ball, lest they be blown by. But regardless, they should’ve been more aggressive.

This team lacks scoring fire power, and they lack anyone with athleticism who can attack the hoop. This makes the absences of Simmons and Bolden very noticeable. Motum should’ve been in ahead of Kay.

Good to see Goulding has found a role as a spark plug off the bench- he’s well suited to that and the team needs him to keep doing it.

[It all missed the mark for me, I'm sorry to say]

OK perhaps not ALL- some of the dancing stuff got the crowd involved.

But I do grade the overall game night presentation a fail. Start by replacing the MC, the court announcer, and better pre game entertainment and then go from there.

A lot of positives I thought.

Bogut sensational. Hopefully he can play big minutes once needed deep in the tournament (30+ minutes). Offense through him is cash.

Goulding amazing. Making his shots and actually a net positive on d with his activity.

Delly was everywhere. Getting hands in everywhere.

Landale continuing to be solid. Looks decent guarding 4's when needed.

Negatives:

Ingles was horrid. I guess that's upside we have for the tourney though.

Back up PF. Kay will need to regroup quickly and hopefully can build some confidence into the World Cup. Was shitting himself. Bolden and Simmons in that team would've looked nice.

Reliance on 3's. Got very little inside aside from Bogut in the high post.

Pick and roll D. I wonder if we didn't adjust as a point of emphasis. As in not giving up our actually defensive coverage for the tournament. But letting Walker, Mitchell and Middleton walk into short range jumpers for the entire game wasn't gonna get it done. As well as not giving up our coverage, you'd be pretty confident in running this drop big defense against any other nation that isn't USA. Shooting a jumpshot with someone closing out from behind is a quintessential NBA shot, that no one else really takes.

Same goes with our offense. We didn't run ANY quick hitters. Just all motion. Lemanis and the Boomers over the last stint have been amazing in getting easy scores from the quick hitters, so hopefully these are simmering nicely in the background. Remember from the last Olympics how many back doors, oops off back picks, counter plays etc we had in the arsenal.

This game made me more confident heading into the Cup, especially considering (assumed) that we have a bit up the sleeve.

Obviously views for people there and camera angles for people at home were issues. BUT, can I ask why the court announcer pre-game did everything in an American accent? Why couldn't we have Australian announcers? The game was in Australia right??

The game was good, but a lot of the stuff around the game was not great - a/v stuff, MCs, DJ, Music, sight lines etc. While I don't really care about a lot of that other stuff, many will.

I think they should seriously consider starting Bogut in front of Baynes, we just seem to flow much better with him in that 5 spot.

Or start Bogut and Baynes.

We might lack foot speed on D. But it worked well in Rio.

I think we probably will start Bogut/ Baynes at some point. Maybe just trying to manage Bogut's minutes as he's ancient. Either way, With a combo of Landale/ Baynes/ Bogut we should only have spot minutes needed for other bigs. We can even afford to go small at the 4 (Creek, Barlow, or even Ingles) when Bogut is at the 5.

I really don't think starting Bogut and Baynes together is the answer. We would be way too slow.

I think Bogut should probably start although he basically runs point centre with so maybe it is better for him to come off the bench. Otherwise you have a bench unit of Goulding, Baynes, Kay & Creek and who is doing any sort of passing in that unit...

I think you seriously have to run this sort of rotation for the best chance although it wont happen.

C Bogut/Baynes (match up based or who is playing better)
PF Landale 30 / Creek or Baynes 10
SF Ingles 30 / Creek 10
SG Mills 20 / Goulding 20
PG Delly 30 / Mills 10

I think the PF minutes really depend on the match ups. A big team you could easily run Bogut and Baynes, a small team you could go micro and put creek in as PF potentially.

Honest thought as a spectacle it was pretty good. The stadium looked very good indeed from my side of the tv screen. Sorry about the floor seats, but honestly what was the expectation?

Bogut looked great, and I would be very tempted to run him at the 5 and have him dish out of the high post all night long.

How bad does this team need Bryce Cotton...

Am told promoters played the game on a raised court as they believed this would give spectators better viewing as opposed to playing on flat ground.

Not kidding.

The lack of adjustments over the last 3 games on that pick and roll D makes me feel like I'm watching Gaze-era Kings games all over again.

To the two above, I'm pretty confident in preparation games we are running only one on ball defense (ie: big dropping, guard going over), and we'll have different looks in the tournament. We'll see.

Playing Baynes and Bogut together wouldn't be a good idea, for one you would then have two non shooters on the court at the same time, plus you would be playing Baynes out of position asking him to cover much faster more athletic guys.

We seem to be fine getting the young nba players and future nba players to play olympics, all of them have expressed that desire, World Cup is another thing entirely though sadly.

Australia need to finish higher than NZ to automatically qualify. If they don't they will need to win one of four 6 team Olympic qualifying tournaments to get in which i cannot see being easy with some of the European teams who will likely not automatically qualify.

Playing Baynes and Bogut together worked last Olympics, and I wouldn't call Baynes a non shooter.

Baynes and Bogut worked in Rio, but both are three years older and slower now. I think its a step to far to play them together now. Plus I think they're better served rotating for each other giving us 40 minutes of quality C play (assuming Baynes finds his form). If you get both guys starting and both pick up early fouls we're left with Landale the only other person with a hope of playing the C spot.

Also Baynes and Bogut only played the first 4 minutes of each half together in Rio. It wasn't so much time together. They were +4 in 92 possessions (excluding vs China, Venezuela), so not bad considering they were playing against starting units. The game has evolved even in the last 3 years, so it's questionable whether 2 relatively slow bigs will work well in getting out to shooters, especially against North American teams that rely so much on perimeter shots. It seems to be USA's shooting 4s that destroy us.

Plus Baynes is a about a 30% 3 point shooter. Not terrible but not really something you have to guard, playing him and bogut just puts more pressure on ingles and mills. Landale at the 4 is not ideal either. What's with Lemanis and playing centres at that 4 spot.

Disappointing to see Heal and Anstey trying to diminish the concerns raised by fans about the seating.

After all, it's not about the fans, especially those that find hundreds (thousands) of dollars to support the sport.

Dickhead stuff from those two.

Who are they sucking up to? Oh yeah, that's right, the bloke with the money?

As a young man growing up I dreamed of being able to watch a national game between Australia and America. Tonight my dream became a nightmare, luckily I guessed that the superstars wouldn't come out so I didn't go to the event live. But even watching it on tv,I had to change the channel repeatedly to see what else was on and go on Facebook etc because the crap churned out tonight was unbelievable. Most of the above complaints I totally agree with, a joke of a selected team with about as much excitement as a div 3 under 14 game. I wish I had not even paid for the electricity to watch even a part of it let alone going to it live. Can't even use the excuse of flooding youngsters to prepare for Olympics.