Australian Boomers’ chemistry on show in win over France, but they won’t rest on their laurels

AUSTRALIA’S team of NBA champions looked like a champion team. The expected grit was evident and their chemistry was sublime. But they know there’s still a long way to go.

Australia's Patty Mills waves to fans.

AUSTRALIA’S team of NBA champions looked like a champion team.

It wasn’t so much the 16-point margin but the manner of the Boomers’ upset opening win over France that’s bound to raise excitement about their Rio 2016 medal prospects.

The trademark Aussie grit and determination was there, but so too was attacking fluidity and flair.

Andrew Bogut marked his stellar return from injury with some huge dunks — most served up as alley-oops by assist machine Matthew Dellavedova. Patty Mills’ speed and vision in transition would surely have entertained the half-full and French-leaning Carioca Arena, while the whole Australian squad kept turning up for each other on the defensive end.

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Dellavedova, Bogut, Mills and Aron Baynes have all won NBA Championship rings in the past three seasons. They’ve all shown their stuff on the biggest stage in basketball.

But on Saturday they proved they can do it all together, with the end result a convincing victory over the world’s fifth-ranked side — themselves star-studded with NBA talent.

Matthew Dellavedova finished with a game-high 10 assists.

That it came together so well despite an interrupted build-up and the squad’s relative inexperience in playing together is a testament to the team culture, according to Bogut.

“We have a lot of different guys who have played all over the world and we know our roles, we know who were are,” Bogut said.

“I don’t think we have guys in these team that need 20 shots a game or think ‘I’m the man on my (club) team, I need to be the man over here’. That’s when you get in trouble with national teams.

“If you don’t have that, you have guys that buy in around a group, you get performances like tonight.”

Bogut and Dellavedova’s attacking combination was the highlight; both bringing their best attributes from the NBA to the national team.

Exploiting the holes in the French defence, five of Dellavedova’s ten assists were alley-oops for Bogut.

“It’s pretty easy when you’ve got targets like that. It was pretty fun out there,” Dellavedova said of the plays.

“He (Bogut) is looking good. He’s done a whole lot of work behind the scenes just to get himself a chance of playing and credit to him for putting in all that work.

Patty Mills posted 21 points for the Boomers.

“He changes the whole dynamic, we’re happy to have him back.”

Assistant coach Luc Longley felt the benefit of having four NBA champions in the team was clear to see.

“They were very poised tonight,” Longley said.

“In the second quarter France made a run at us and looked to be scoring easily.

“I was late into the locker room at halftime but we didn’t need to do any coaching at half time. The guys knew exactly what was going on and they were all over each other. So while it’s not really an experienced group, there’s lots of experienced guys and our poise is good.”

The Boomers certainly aren’t getting ahead of themselves ahead of their second clash against Serbia on Tuesday (AEST) and the all-conquering Team USA on Thursday (AEST).

They have talked a big game in terms of their gold medal ambition but every player and coach that fronted the media after the Saturday’s was at pains to stress nothing has been achieved yet.

“We understand we played good today but we understand that it’s only one win and we’ve got a long road to go,” Mills said.

“But we’ve established our goal very early on that we’re all very serious about. We believe in each other and to come out and play the way we want to play, it’s a big one for us.”

Originally published as Australian Boomers’ chemistry on show in win over France, but they won’t rest on their laurels