Olympics 2024: The Boomers set to lock in spots for Paris after clean sweep of China
In an indication as to how difficult settling on a team for the Olympics has been, two certain starters sat out of the Boomers’ big win against China. MICHAEL RANDALL analyses the performance, and picks his 12-man squad for the Games.
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Brian Goorjian had planned to roll out a Boomers group close to what he’d lean on in Paris to defend their historic 2021 Olympic bronze medal.
But, in an indication of just how difficult the Australian selectors are finding the task of whittling 17 down to 12, two certain travellers wore street clothes as a starting group who had never seen the court together in a meaningful game tipped off against China on Thursday night.
Walk up Paris squad members Duop Reath and Matisse Thybulle watched on in street clothes, as did Jack White and Dejan Vasiljevic — an indicator that pair is unfortunately on the outer — as the Boomers cruised to a 33-point win, 91-58.
Nominal starters Josh Green and Dante Exum, each who missed Tuesday’s win over China, started on the bench as Goorj got a little funky, trying young combo guard Dyson Daniels at small forward, flanked by a back-court line-up of spearhead Josh Giddey and the revered Patty Mills, with old reliable Nick Kay at power forward and Jock Landale in the middle.
“We wanted to run the shit out of Jock and play the shit out of Giddey and then work those other pieces that we’re looking at, that we’ve narrowed it down to in those last selections,” said Boomers’ coach Brian Goorjian.
It was a pleasing sight to see the Houston Rockets’ tower take centre stage on John Cain Arena in green and gold again, 10-and-a-half months after he suffered a heartbreaking ankle injury at the same venue that virtually doomed the Boomers’ World Cup campaign before it began.
Less than a week after a second US$8 million payday was guaranteed by the Rockets, Landale showed why he is the Boomers’ most important player, jamming, jawing, roaring and rebounding his way to a game-high 19 points to go with nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.
The 28-year-old looked right at home — and so he should have: JCA is the happiest of hunting grounds for the Victorian, who led Melbourne United to the NBL promised land in 2021.
“We didn’t have Jock (in Tokyo), a lot of the grit, the energy, it’s an exciting piece, you walk out and go ‘god we didn’t have that,” Goorjian said.
Goorjian said there was a tension in the group as the cuts loomed but, as much as it’s tough on the players, Ingles believes it’s his coach and the selectors who have the more nerve-wracking task.
“It sucks for Goorj at this point to have to make those decisions, it’s not easy,” Ingles said.
“Good luck to him pickling the 12. It’s the job he chose to do but it’s a f***ing s**t job.
“There’s going to be great players who miss out and there’s going to be great players who are in.
“I think, as a group, what we did a really good job of is the goal was to get better and to figure out the best way to play and, walking into practice every day it was ‘what’s best for the group’.
“It can be an anxious, nervous situation when you’re fighting for your lives and there’s obviously a lot of guys who can make this team.
“We sit back and let them make their decisions and move on tomorrow.”
Kay, 31, and under heavy pressure to keep his spot in part due to defensive difficulties in Okinawa and a glut of candidates at the four, showed there’s still life left in his Paris campaign.
The Western Australian’s high release jumper was as deadly as ever and this potency on the corner three has been a staple of Goorjian-led green and gold teams, all eight of his points coming in the first half.
Mills’ form must be a concern for selectors — even if pigs would fly before the legendary bronzed Boomer was denied a fifth Olympic berth.
In game one, the 35-year-old was off the pace in a small eight-minute sample size in game one and, given more opportunity on Thursday night, his radar was broken, empty on all seven tries from deep with just two points on 1-11 shooting in 21 minutes. In fact, Mills was the only Boomer to take the floor whose plus-minus finished in the negative (-5).
Perhaps there is some solace in the fact Mills’ World Cup lead-in form was similarly poor but he shook off the cobwebs to be the team’s second-leading scorer in Okinawa.
“I’m more looking at how he’s (Patty Mills) moving, what’s his conditioning, the more he plays, he’s getting in shots, he’s active defensively, he’s quick as shit, he hasn’t lost anything,” Goorjian said.
“He’s not shooting the ball well but I feel like he’s getting shots and Giddey’s getting him the ball and I think there’s a better synergy between those two right now.”
Chris Goulding probably punched his ticket to Paris, dominating in the bench assassin role that could make him one of Australia’s game-breaking weapons in Paris with a quartet of treys.
Green’s ridiculous athleticism, untapped offensive game and elite defence might just be the x-factor that unlocks this incarnation of the Boomers.
Like Landale, the newly-minted Charlotte Hornet battled injury throughout the failed World Cup effort and expectations, this time around, are high and he produced several edge-of-your-seat moments in his 14-minute stint.
“Josh Green excited me tonight, you’ll think he’s going to fly over the backboard, every now and then he goes flying into you, like that was quick,” Goorjian said.
Exum’s impact is of the same ilk as Green’s — but we already knew that. He was the Boomer who enhanced his reputation most in Okinawa and continued that in Melbourne, draining from deep and finishing at the cup for nine points in 13 minutes.
One indication Goorj might be shifting away from bigs at the four was the presence of line-ups featuring a quartet of guards and wings around a sole centre.
At one point, Giddey, Mills, Exum and Green surrounded Will Magnay.
Goorj is a fan of the former New Orleans Pelican who had a wretched run with injury over the past two years, but found a home in Tasmania and might be on the cusp of a trip to Paris — it’s not really about the numbers for the big fella.
The Boomers’ experimentation made for some quite frankly horrendous basketball, especially early, for the 9298 fans who packed in. They scored just 16 points in the first quarter — on 28 per cent shooting — and turned it over five times.
But that looked elite next to China, who were choked by the stifling defence of Daniels, then Green, held to an embarrassing six points on just three field goals as they handed it back seven times in the first 10 minutes.
Beloved Victorian Matthew Dellavedova was treated to a warm round of applause every time he checked into the game and was on the floor when the final buzzer sounded. If it was his last dance in green and gold, the Olympic bronze medallist and NBA champion can be more than satisfied with his incredible contribution to the sport in the country — and his inspiration to so many with his otherworldly effort and dedication to getting the most out of his body and ability.
For the first time in years, Ingles wasn’t a certainty for Paris and, while he’s kept it real throughout the build up, there’s a feeling he’s done enough to warrant an Olympic swansong.
“Like everybody here, you want to make it, you want to move forward with it,” he said.
“For Patty (Mills) and I being a fifth one (Olympics), would be unbelievable.
“I think I did everything I had to do and could have done.
“I had a good week of practice, I know what I do when I’m out on the floor to connect the group and bring people together.
“So, yeah, I mean, it is what it is. I’m going to go home tomorrow, regardless, and see my family and hang out with the kids and I’ll either be really happy or be a little pissed off.”
Goorjian and the selectors would have had a fair idea of what they wanted to do with the final 12 before the games in Melbourne and went in knowing world No. 29 China failed to qualify for the Olympics and isn’t in the same stratosphere of the talent the Boomers will have to beat in France.
“We were thinking something coming into the game and in the middle of the third quarter I looked and said ‘hey we’ve got to talk about this’ and they could all see it, we’ve got to go back and plow a little bit more,” Goorjian said.
“Whatever comes out of this, there’s going to be a lot of people who’ll want to put a bullet through my head, there’s no win here.”
“We’ve got to come to conclusions and we’ve got to tell them (the players) now.”
So how much the performances of any player counts toward a ticket on the plane, at least in the team’s inner sanctum, is difficult to measure.
We’ll know for certain Sunday when the AOC rubber stamps the final 12 hoopers who will carry the hopes of a nation to France.
KEY BATTLES
Ingles v McVeigh – Ingles
McVeigh’s done everything asked of him and enjoyed a stunning emergence over the past 18 months but it would take a brave, brave man to deny the legendary Joe Ingles, understood to have more than held his own in camp, a fifth Olympics. I ‘think’ it’s the 36-year-old — whose playmaking ability sets him apart — but McVeigh is closing hard.
Designated shooter: McVeigh v Goulding – Goulding
McVeigh is the superior all-round player right now but that expanded skill set is not what the Boomers need out of this role – and, despite his stunning emergence and obvious gifts, he’s up against one of the greatest three-point shooters Australia has ever produced. And he showed that in two games against China, draining eight of his 12 attempts from deep.
12th-man: McVeigh v Magnay v Kay – Magnay
There’s a school of thought Magnay could go as injury insurance for Landale and Reath and if Goorj decides against Kay, the 26-year-old must go. But, with Cooks’ ability to play small-ball five and enough length in the squad to make that viable, the door remains open to McVeigh and it might come down to a decision between the two JackJumpers’ NBL champion teammates. Goorj has spent the past fortnight talking about Magnay giving the team a different look, with a hyperfocus on “three bigs”. Kay could sneak in as that culture guy, but Magnay has ‘good bloke’ written all over him and that torch might be passed on.
Who misses?
They’ll be restless across the Strait with my decision to leave McVeigh out and he will be desperately unlucky if he doesn’t get the call up. On the flip side, the way he’s responded to adversity over the past few years, it might just create a basketball monster. Dellavedova and Kay could be the unlucky veterans who get squeezed out, while It’s understood White and Vasiljevic were told they wouldn’t play on Thursday night, an indicator that a Paris berth is a long shot.
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