I can't point at any particular part of the game with confidence and say "here's the problem" and "here's the potential fix". Because the Boomers right now are operating at a level where it's hard to know what you're going to actually get from them within a single game, let alone knowing what adjustments to make.

If we don't have the same size, you'd assume we'd exploit our full court pressure and try to run the kind of game that helped us beat them in Rio. But can that even work for us at this point in time when everyone seems to be brainfarting holes in their hats? We seem to be missing defensive rotations and playing with sub-optimal energy and intent.

I have a feeling the Boomers may be two weeks late in starting their preparation and now they're being asked to put the pedal to the metal just a little early. If you read through this article it sounds like they're having issues that should have been dealt with during the Canada warm up games.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27526793/boomers-struggling-find-world-cup-consistency

In this campaign we've had moments of brilliance (defeating Team USA) and moments of absolute woefulness (Senegal game), and finding consistency is not a simple or easy thing. It is possible that the Boomers step up to the challenge and beat Lithuania tomorrow, but it is probably more likely that we lose tomorrow night and "maybe" find our feet in the second pool. Either way, future is looking pretty damn hazy for this team at the moment.

We might have 2 wins under our belt and be "undefeated" but this campaign is starting to look more like one of what could have been when the dust settles. I want to be proven wrong but we are not playing like medal contenders at this point. We could have underestimated our opponent in Senegal. We could be asking too much of our main players in minutes. But between the 3rd quarter lull against Canada and the entire game against Senegal, the red lights are flashing on this team.

The only saving grace I see is that we somehow pulled victory from the jaws of defeat in both games. That shows that there is some mettle there to work with. But can they bring that for 40 minutes against Lithuania? I'd love to say yes, but wouldn't go betting my house on it.

1) Taking care of the ball - far too many turnovers from bad passes/careless ball handling
2) Rebounds - when Boomers get lazy they give up offensive rebounds
3) Defending the perimeter properly

Those are diligence/effort things.

The other factor is shooting, Boomers have been hot and cold, if they go cold that will be majorly problematic because they are not great at engineering easy baskets when they go cold.

Lithuania and France are ridiculously talented, Boomers won't need to just play well, they will need to play out of their socks

Boomers are highly rated, but so are 8 other sides

"Why are the Boomers so poorly rated? On paper we have the second most talented squad"

I don't agree. I would say there are a number of teams with as much talent as us. We are up there for talent, but not clear of the pack by any means.

How many of our NBA players are 'money men' in the NBA, the guys you go to when you need a bucket? Mills and Ingles .. barely.

And when you look beyond the NBA players at benches, our guys are NBL whereas the Euro teams are full of Euro-league players, a much tougher league, and they play in tough Euro tournaments every year.

Nostraballmus sees a big difference so far between the Booners and the medal contenders. Nostraballmus would like to think Lemanis has something up his sleeve but doubts it big time.

Some of these things you guys are saying were factors when we played in Rio but we were one call away from a medal and we did beat Serbia in the first game, France, Lithuania, etc.

I think the bigger issue here is that we still haven't gelled and figured it out as a team.

I am going to suggest the Boomers have been holding back and have only gone all in twice since the friendlies started.

This squad has handled Lithuania reasonably well in the recent past and that will continue tomorrow. Boomers betwèen 4-9 is my prediction

Some euros dont want to play in the states. Simple.

I do think they are being underrated slightly. They clearly came out expecting a win last night but they usually turn up for the big games. I expect it will be very tight and could legitimately go either way. I can see sabonis being a problem however.

Just watching Italy V Serbia....Boomers are simply not deep enough to medal in this competition....the work load will take its toll on our NBA guys.

Depends how deep those teams are actually going. Are they going deeper than we are really? Do they play their 10th/12th men?

I really hope that we are holding a lot back because I do agree it's hard to imagine we're as bad as we look

With so many discussions being posted and i still can't believe no one has said this yet.....

"Lets turn to nostraballmus for the answer"

Would be a great segment on overtime!!

Lithuania are favourites by the bookies. Just

Yeah,
Proper passing, cut the turnovers
Rebounds!
Defence!

I've been speaking to someone who is somewhat on the inside of this squad and they've told me that things are actually going to plan so far.

That might be hard to imagine but they've told me that the Boomers weren't made with the USA, Canada or Senegal in mind, but tough European teams. This team was made to be the antidote to them, and therefore don't match up particularly well with teams who play the opposite way (heaps athletic, a lot of pick and rolls etc).

The plan is to play European teams full court in traps and presses and force them to waste their clock and disrupt their offense. The reason we haven't done much of this to date is because more athletic and Americanized teams are better at dealing with that kind of pressure and can often turn it into quick points.

Offensively, we're going to rely on our outside shooting. We currently shoot at 40 percent from the outside but shoot twice as many three point shots as the Lithuanians who average only 30 percent from outside. Every threepoint shot is obviously an extra point. And we are going to depend on our high IQ players to also get us high percentage looks inside, with not a whole lot of emphasis on penetration, but passing and off-the-ball movement.

He said that basically, the Boomers have been playing against a style they weren't designed to match up on, and while it's been ugly, they're 2-0 in the W/L column so things are chugging along just fine in his opinion.

Hopefully we can see fruits of this gameplan tomorrow.

ME, Thanks for the insight but surely a good coach can adapt to what's put in front of them.
Are you saying we have zero athletes in our squad?

I don't agree. I would say there are a number of teams with as much talent as us. We are up there for talent, but not clear of the pack by any means.

Nostraballmus sees that we need answers. He reassures you that all will be revealed tonite. And it will be a picture of some beauty. The tall ones from the south will rise in sweet harmony. They will share the round idol as never before seen. And from afar they shall launch the idol to the amazement of the world of tree-like ones. He who Mills and Son of Bus Driver will amaze. But it shall be He Who Cut His Hair whom The Great One's Son & Co will not consider. Alas, beware the The Great Ones Son as the apples falls near the tree. And while the tall ones from the south will rise, their rise will fall just short. He who seeks to defeat their enemy must know their enemy and it is seen the southern tall ones have chosen to not even see those of Eurokind since the battle of Rio. And the Southern tall ones, while big in heart are short in number of quality warriors who begin seared. Alas, Nostraballmus fears the Southern Guru will this be found out again.

Enjoy the battle my friends, for Nostraballmus sees that you are all lovers of the Game of Everybody (over 183cm).

I think it's way more interesting to watch the boomers than other teams. In the NBA they dribble it around a screen and jack one up. Yawn. Australia plays team ball. They make the extra pass. They set screens and reward the cutter. Lots of alley oops. Lots of dunks. Lots of screens and cuts. Lots of great passes. They play with their heads up. They play the way the game should be played. They seem to really like one another and play that way. Anyone that says they don't have great coaches doesn't know much about the game. I've talked to a lot of coaches and none of them want this 4 year commitment with no pay. So anyone that says we need a new coach, lets see their list and the coaches who are willing to commit. Otherwise you are just talking out your ass.

Nostraballmus sees that we need a new Guru only if the current Guru cannot deliver coveted metal with a golden generation of warriors

If Djordjevic hadn't delivered metal with the current Serbian crop would he still be their Guru ?

But refrain my friends, the battle is nigh, go the BoomBoys

food stipend. Usually ends up costing the coaches money to do this thing.

Boomers glaring issue in all games in the past few weeks have been unforced turnovers. Sort this out and we don't need an ace up the sleeve... but maybe we still have one.

We need to play like tonight is a medal game. Hide nothing, run our best sets, and worry about the future games when they come.

Offensively under Lemanis I think we run some great stuff, especially with Bogut as the screener. Goulding and Mills can generate scoring out of nothing and Landale has been pretty great outside of last game. I'm OK if I never see another Baynes shot-put looking hookshot, but hey, he converts enough dunks around the hoop to let me see past it.

Defensively I don't know if it's the guys we have or the coaching but I'm nowhere near as sold on that end of the court. It looked like none of our guys knew anything about the Senegalese players. Individually some of our guys are doing great defensively, but our team defense is still shaky. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I've been particularly impressed by Goulding's on-ball D. Combined with his more diverse offensive game inside the arc, I feel like I'm watching a different player.

Rebounding is an issue.

Start Bogut and Baynes to counter Valanciunus and Sabonis?

I'm quietly confident. Could go either way but we did smash these guys in Rio. (Although a much younger Sabonis, and no Valanciunus from memory?).

Boomers weren't on their game vs Senegal. An optimistic interpretation might be that we got our bad game out of the way early! It's very hard to play well every night and win 7 in a row.

Wait, that'd be 8 in a row?

Btw, love this new pooling system. Extra game in the round of 16!

Yeah every team has at least one terrible game per tournament. In Rio it was against Serbia, but hopefully ours just passed.

I also believe we can do this. But for me, this is game 1 of the real cup. I actually expect us to throw things at Lithuania that we didn't to our first two foes.

Don't be surprised if we go deeper into our bench.

It's quite a good system.
It's always difficult to balance the pool stage. Make them too big, and you get too many dud games, and then teams playing silly-buggers. Too small, and either you don't cut enough teams, or you find that one bad game can send a good team out early.
Here, you effectively have a pool of 8 teams, narrowed down to 2, with 4 going out early.
It's good that even though both teams already know they're going through, the pressure is still on to win, and nobody is trying to engineer opponents for the next round.

Why are we so lowly rated?

Well we aren't to begin with

We are normally rated anywhere from 3rd to 8th

USA Serbia are obviously the 2 most talented teams.

Greece has the best NBA player in the WC(though his game hasn't Totally translated to FIBA)

France has Gobert who's all NBA player. Plus Batum Fournier 2 starters in their teams. Plus 2 other NBA players (5) (with Bogut not having a contract atm we only have 4)

Spain have Gasol Rubio Hermangomez and Llull(could easily play in the NBA if he wants, though not as good after his injury)

Lithuania has 2 players in Jonas & Sabonis who are probably considered better than our best players)

Argentina has always been a top team. Italy have Gallo(just missed being an all star in the West) and Bellineli a great shooter.

Who suggested Boomers are underrated? All the signals I'm seeing for months is that we are medal contenders with the most talented NBA players.

Very bad that Boomers did not play against European teams in preparation. One loss against a Germany team that's turned out to be overrated. Could go very pear shaped against the good European teams.

Nostraballmus gotta call you out. Djordjevic hasn't delivered metal? Umm... second in last Worlds, second in Olympics, second in Euros (with a third string lineup). Silver is still a metal bro.

Australia will lose by 10-15. Oceania bball is above Asia and Africa, but not close to Europe or the Americas.

Serballin has misunderstood Nostraballmus. Easy Sir, you arent the first to not understand the ramblings of the 'Ballmus. Nostraballmus said if Djordji HADN'T delivered those bits of metal would he still be there ? Nostraballmus thinks not. But our Southern Guru remains in situ despite two failed campaigns and is contracted to lead us to the Great Battle of Tokyo. Nostraballmus hopes that tonites battle brings promise of the Guru and his BoomBoys being able to truly compete with the Great Tribes of the Round Ball.

"Start Bogut and Baynes to counter Valanciunus and Sabonis? "

Their bigs can also shoot, so it's an extra concern getting Bogut and Baynes to close out. This game definitely is an opportunity for Lemanis to flex his coaching muscles. Lots of challenges to deal with. Regardless, I'm sure the critics will come out in full force if Boomers lose, and not give Lemanis any credit if they win.

Lithuania are firming as clear favourites now at 1.58.

Love your work rjd. Nostraballmus agrees and would like to add 'cometh the hour, cometh the man'.

Don't know how anyone calls Lemanis' campaigns failures. Over-performed every time

Greggo, luv ya work.
We all know Nostraballmus is a bloody right w**ker right but I reckons he calls 'em failures cause we ain't won nuffin' when we fink we should. Should we fink dat tho ? or we happy wif 4th-12th and good 'ol plucky Ozzie underdog performances eh cobber ? Finkin we cood maybe win somefin dese days when most our blokes in da big show now but 'Ballmus has probs got his head up his clacker right

I'm actually not sure how anyone can really dispute Lemanis' record. We came within a point of top 8 in 2014 when we were missing Patty Mills and Andrew Bogut - an over-achievement in my view. We got within a point of Bronze in Rio and we smashed France, beat Serbia (in the first game anyway), almost beat USA, and smashed Lithuania - all teams that were technically more talented than us. And so far in this tournament we're undefeated and have qualified for the second round. It hasn't looked as convincing as Lithuania has but the Ws are on the board.

I don't see where the under-achievement is. And if we manage to make top 8 in this tournament, all things considered, we will actually have probably fulfilled our talent potential and anything beyond that would be an absolute bonus. I'd love a medal but we do have to be realistic about our bench depth. Maybe we actually can do something in this tournament but we haven't been without our issues in preparation.

I'm with you ME. Though France and Lithuania are as tough as anyone in the tourney really, so if we can get over one of them, a medal becomes a good chance

What I think I've seen from the Boomers, and what seems to be behind all of the issues on court for me, is a lack of mental focus. When you're 20 ahead of Canada and when you expect to eventually get one over Senegal that is understandable, if not ideal. Hopefully the boys are dialed in from the start in this game.

"Are you saying we have zero athletes in our squad?"

Thunder Jam - I'd say that the Boomers don't have a particularly athletic roster this time around. In particular, there's not much speed or agility in the front court. Not surprising with having lost Cooks to injury as well as Simmons and Bolden to personal priorities. Landale is probably our most athletic big and he hasn't looked particularly athletic or agile in the couple of games I've seen him play.

ME's source's comments make the team selections and omissions a bit more understandable.

The market believed LTU's opening odds were too generous therefore the weight of money was too heavy on that side causing the odds to drop. It is an opinion though - that's why the games are played for real and not on paper.

Good start. DAT angle though, director asleep.

WTF did Heal say after the dunk replay?

Never that floating cam again please

Damn that 3 point shooting.

Kay 2/2 100% 4pts

QT AUS 27-19 LTU

Kay and Goulding 100% FG

#NBL

Awkward final play for the quarter.

The movement off the ball is 100% better than the game against Senegal. Only a couple actual low percentage shots were taken deep in the shot clock.

Intensity great. still struggling to defend the high screen. Great start though.

What is the point of IRS when refs deny a review? Useless and arrogant fficiating

officiating*

Kaaay

Nick "400" Kay shocking the world.

Baynes from three :D

Kay's been defending well, but "carrying"? Please. He's finishing uncontested layups. Credit to Ingles etc. for creating advantages.

Where's the foul on the follow-through on the Baynes 3? If he was a guard, that'd be called.

We are just 9 up after shooting the lights out from 3. Don't get too excited.

Stream if anyone needs it: http://nbastreams.xyz/live/1/

lol, Bogut "has a good Chinese fan base here"

Baynes beast mode.

HT AUS 52-41 LTU

Please no third quarter fadeout.

Good half. Would've been better if they hadn’t coughed up those two late turnovers.

Mills offers speed that the Lithuanian guards have struggled against. Even just the off-the-ball movement by Mills has been valuable in creating opportunities for others.

9/14 for 3s, without Ingles or Goulding providing any... yet.

Don't forget we got robbed by one awful call, the put-back that hit the rim.

How's the fitness of Mills at this time of year? He's played over 18 minutes. Lemanis isn't going beyond Goulding for bench guards.

Meanwhile NZL down 8pts already.

Is our game plan to let Lithuanians to shoot mid-range jumpers? Lithuania going 8/11 from 14-22ft.

SOrry, that should be 6/9. Not as bad.

Start of the third is so important. Please win this quarter by atleast 6.

Dont think we will take any chances with resting rotations, the win here is a golden ticket out of the next group

Well said Btown. This is crucial.

Sloppy start. Lots of physical stuff from the Lithos.

Argh, 0-5 to start the third.

"Is our game plan to let Lithuanians to shoot mid-range jumpers? Lithuania going 8/11 from 14-22ft."

Bogut is slow, Mills is short, Kay and Landale can barely get off the ground.

Kinda have to live with that sort of thing.

Kay does a good job of defending the high on ball.

Nick Kay, the boy from Tamworth.

Geez, how is bogut such a weakness in the post.

3QT AUS 68-60 LTU

-3pts differential in that quarter

Do all the Euro teams practice their complaining? They all have that arms out neck in pose.

Genuinly worried. We need 4th qtr patty to show up.

Bogut looking old

Maker vs Bogut for backup C next year will be interesting.

Sabonis has been torching him. This is a step up in level from NBL and Canada/Senegal.

Kay playing well but he shouldny be out there in these crucial minutes

Agreed, get Kay off. Lead all but gone.

Here comes the choke

Lead cut to 3.

If Shane Heal says "Don't worry about that" one more time, why I'm gonna.....

Ah......

Terrible starts to 3rd and 4th

Now they need to answer like they did in the 3rd

I'm scared now.

Shovel pass to baynes on the perimeter was pointless, stupid turnoverw

The bloody turnovers. Seriously.

Don't pass the ball to Kay unless he can make a routine pass or uncontested finish. Please.

Patty's height just being exploited here

Boomers getting nothing from offense in the last few minutes

Well done Creek

We always have to do everything the hard way.

Bogut fouls out.

Bogut done.

3pts

Plenty of time

Shots will drop eventually just lock down defensively.

We still haven't scored?

Stopped moving and making the extra pass on offense. No wonder we cant score

Correct.

Play Ingles at the 4

Finally a score!

We will have to do this from the line as we are unable to score from the field!

Wow LTU keeping us in it.

Baynes with our first FG in this quarter. Only took 7mins.

Jock has ice on his groin, the win just became a lot more important

Great D by Delly. There's hope yet.

I love this team. They fight all the way.

Mills has balls.

OMG what a miss by Sabonis.

Gus with the best comment from all the multiple Boomers threads.

Nick Kay 11pts.

Nick motherf'ckin Kay.

Kay haters gone quiet.

Fuck yeah

MILLS BEAST MODE

4pt play

Yessssssssssss

Patrick Clutch Mills

Thats the 4th quarter patty i asked for

OMG it's happening!

How was that not a foul on the Mills three?

Still Creek hits these we win. Possible USF review.

USF on LTU

yessssssssssssssssssss

Sack Litho coach....

Can we get Heal to sack him?

Stop calling us as home.

FT AUS 87-82 LTU

Now you can call it.

You bloody beauty!!!!

Finally i have seen a boomers side beat lithuania

We did at Olympics already.

They have beaten them a few times recently.

Can we swap out Patty at the defensive end each play?

Finally i have seen a boomers side beat lithuania

What a game! 1st half Boomers couldn't miss. 2nd half all grit. Never, ever change this team.

Couple of shaky moments but held their ground. Creek is not always a confident FT shooter but solid in this one when it counted. Man, Patty and Delly work hard for the Boomers - just run and run. Their and Ingles' NBA confidence is invaluable on this stage.

Clearly i wiped the olympics for memory

Kay goes 2/2 FT down the stretch. #NBLpoise

Creek and Kay both with huge clutch free-throws.

Nothing better than international hoops

NZL only down by 5pts. #Olympics

Our next two:

7th vs. DOM
9th vs. FRA

Group of death hey.
Trash NBL players hey.

The Boomers suck. Sack Lemanis ;)

I'm feeling pretty smug. Now the doubters can buggar off for a few days and go troll a whitegoods forum

Lemanis needs to work out how to stop the bleeding when we fall asleep offensively.
If we do that when we arnt up like against canada or lithunia it will cost a game.

Boomers addressed some of the main concerns from recent games. Intensity was far, far better. We out-rebounded Lithuania 40-32, giving up 9 o-boards. Although 21/30 baskets were assisted, we still had 15 turnovers. We also had another lengthy offensive lapse to start a quarter.

After starting 9/14 for 3s in the first half, then went 2/12 in the 2nd half.

This Boomers team just does a lot of things right. Tremendous defence, hustle and grit by Delly, Ingles and Baynes and great poise down the stretch from a number of players.

Baynes was an absolute beast today and his three point shooting was an added bonus. I'd like to see Ingles score more as his only score tonight came from his final free throws but he's like a conductor out there orchestrating every play.

The only thing that concerns me is when things get tough we don't have an out an out scorer to create their own shot consistently. Mills is probably the best we have but if he gets shut down the scoring really dries up.

Lithuania did well to ramp up their physicality on defense, and start switching or showing on-balls. Outside of Ingles, Goulding and Mills we struggle for shot creation. It's very Spurs-like, in that we WANT teams to help and recover - trusting that our spacing, ball movement and shooting will generate good looks. By switching and showing, we became very stagnant.

In those moments, Lemanis could go with the old adage of giving your best player the ball in a situation they thrive in, and let them go to work. I'd love us to just space the floor and give Ingles a high on-ball or handoff when our offense isn't flowing.

Hopefully we learn and adjust against the better teams. Overall: good win. Can't afford those quarter-long lapses if we want to win a medal, but otherwise showing we're a legit medal contender once again.

"Mills is probably the best we have but if he gets shut down the scoring really dries up."

This reflects Mills +16 for this game. The team was -11 in 5 minutes while Mills rested.

I wouldnt count on baynes, landale and kay combining for 6? 3s again.

We struggled to get goulding involved for scoring off the bench. With ingles not scoring till those last free throws we lacked a whole lotta punch.

"I wouldnt count on baynes, landale and kay combining for 6? 3s again."
... and I wouldn't count on Ingles and Goulding not scoring freely, again. Some-one always stepping up for the Boomers. Also like the way we have been finding the hot hand repeatedly.

Thought the reffing in this one surprisingly un-good/sloppy.

The Boomers are coming into their stride now but one trend I've noticed over the games, even the poor ones, is we've always managed to find a new contributer and a different hero. Tonight, if you look at the whole game, it was Baynes. Last time, Ingles. Delly against Canada. Patty v USA.

Kay should have had 13 points if you count the score in Q2 when the ref's were too lazy to check the replay after baynes 3 clipped the ring.

Mills is carrying this team, +45 over 3 games
Ingles quieter tonight, but still +33
Baynes +31
Delly +30
Nic Kay +34

Landale -4

We've seen Baynes show off his perimeter shot in the NBA for a while now, but I still can't believe that *that* jumpshot is now so effective. It looks so mechanical and awkward. You see someone shoot with that kind of motion at any social league level and you are going to think the shot was a fluke if it goes in, let him try again.

Now Baynes is drawing some serious defensive attention, not to be left open.

Nostraballmus sees that at least ME posts under a name. All power to him, always provides an informed and interesting viewpoint. All power to ya ME.

I'd prefer you to call someone out under an interesting and quirky ball related moniker at least peeps.

Nostraballmus reminds us all that we ain’t won nothin yet and we were as close as a Sabonis gimme from an L. We move into round 2 with far poorer points % than France and Lithuania.
All power to the BoomBoys for a gr8 win. If they have shown medal winning capability - if - time push on and now deliver one. We’ve finished 4th or worse many times.

Watching Joe Ingles is like watching your dad go out and smash it.

Lithuania were terrible from the 3pt line against the Boomers so it left me wondering why we continued to go over the screen and not under it on the screen and roll so we could prevent the mid range pull ups they were hitting time and time again. On top of that where was the scouting report to stay down on the Sabonis pump fakes? He isnt the most athletic guy getting around so you shouldnt be biting on those fakes as much as we did.

Great to see the win from the Boomers, 3-0 has put us in a good position going forward as France will be tough to beat.

"We move into round 2 with far poorer points % than France and Lithuania."

Unless FIBA have made a massive change, overall points differential only comes into play if the head-to-head and points differential between the tied teams is even.

Under the usual FIBA rules, in case of a tiebreaker with France and Lithuania, we are currently +5 and Lithos are -5. As such, if Lithuania beat France and we lost to Les Bleus, if our loss is by a small margin we would be top 2 in that tiebreak and go through.

"What ever you post from now on is meaningless. I thought it at the time you wrote that pointless diatribe.

Meaningless and clueless."

Oh definitely meaningless. I mean, you, who has no name and can't be held to account for ever being inaccurate, have never been proven wrong before I'm guessing.

Kay was important in that win.

It aint fantasy basketball haters.

Lithuania need more NBL players

"Kay was important in that win.

It aint fantasy basketball haters.

"

Kay was massive. So was Mitch Creek. We're getting pretty good mileage out of our NBL guys all things considered.

Agree with above post, Andrej's game style is to disrupt teams and push them away from where they want to go. Going under the screens would have worked in their favour and so the Boomers pushed the Lithuanians into taking two point baskets given this was the lesser of the two poisons (i.e. 5, 2 point baskets being taken instead of 5, 3 point baskets)

So good that Australia didn't get tempted into run and gun when things started to turn. Very good tactical match by Australia so credit to Lemanis.

The two times I can recall Boomers going under the screens rather than over Lithuania comfortably splashed a three. I think it was a case of picking your poison.

Lithuania kill you with threes and dunks, they just build so much momentum from them with their crowd. Aussies help and recover was consistent and impressive.

Kay submitting his application for more minutes, again. Also making a statement for the now silent no-NBL-players critics in this forum. Kay is going to be exposed against athletes. This is most obvious against North American and African teams, exactly all the teams we have gone up against before Lithuania. He should be better suited going up against the less athletic Euros.

Our 2 main 4-men combining for 21 points on 8/13 (including 3/5 from 3pt) and 6 boards in 38 minutes. A bit light in the rebounding department, but you can't complain about the offensive production and efficiency. Several baskets came from the offensive system putting pressure on the Lithuanian defense to create defensive breakdowns. There it is again, the importance of being able to play within the system.

The rules on FIBA website are as paul has posted, and the rest of his post is spot on.

"There it is again, the importance of being able to play within the system."

Yeah but Lemanis sucks because we don't have Deng Adel and *insert athletic kid here with great YouTube mixtape but no real experience in big games* lol

Oh FFS.
If you weren't nervous about yesterday's game, then you're an idiot.

We came very close to losing, so those predictions were almost correct.

It is also entirely accurate to point out that early against Senegal we looked asleep and Baynes was hopeless, whereas against Lithuania we were focussed and he was razor-sharp.

As for all those making pseudo-wise cracks about the NBL...
We have 7 NBL players in the team, and that seems like a lot.
Bogut doesn't count.
Kay has been in stella form for a year now, leading his team to an NBL ship, winning the NZNBL MVP, and dominating at training camp.
Goulding is not only a Boomers stalwart and former Euro player, but he has been in exceptional form for this WC. This is literally not the same player that was coming off the MU bench last season. If he carries this into the NBL season, then MU are going to be ripping new ones across Australia.
Creek's intensity has never been in question, and he did spend last season in the USA on the NBA fringe.
And to be fair, nobody has seriously questioned the inclusion of any of those (except Kay, but that was before Bolden shot thru)

The other 3, and those people have actually complained about, are literally contributing nothing.