Boomers warning to rivals after ‘dirty’ claim: ‘We play hard as hell’

AFTER disposing of China, the Australian Boomers had a message for rivals who want join Team USA in whingeing about their physicality at the Rio Olympics.

USA's guard Kevin Durant (R) vies with Australia's small forward Joe Ingles.

AUSTRALIA’s basketball team has a message for rivals who want join Team USA in whingeing about their physicality.

“We know we’re not a dirty team, but we play hard as hell,” said Joe Ingles after the Boomers ruthlessly swept aside China to seal a place in the Olympic quarter-finals.

“I guarantee we play harder than any other team here and that’s what we live off.”

US team member Paul George accused the Australians of being a dirty team after their clash.

“We don’t care what other people think about us,” Ingles said. “We don’t care what media, players, teams, anyone says. We know within our group and our locker room who we are and our identity.”

Things get a little heated after a foul by Joe Ingles v China. Picture: Adam Head

The Boomers’ impressive win took them to a 3-1 record and was achieved without Andrew Bogut at all and Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova for long periods.

China tried to match them physically in the first quarter but were easily dismissed.

It was a great reaction to the 98-88 loss against the US two days earlier.

“We were pissed off,” Ingles said of that defeat.

“We wanted to win the game and we thought we could have won the game and think we should have. We have to just keep getting better.”

The aftermath of Joe Ingles’ foul v China. Picture: Adam Head

Coach Andrej Lemanis said there was no doubt the Boomers were a hard team, but to think that’s all they are would be an injustice.

“It’s always interesting, they talk about being dirty, I mean if you look at the NBA playoffs, I think they call that playing hard, you know?” Lemanis said.

“I think that’s what we do, we play hard and one of our trademarks is about being amorphic (adaptable) and as a team we’ve been able to do that, adjust to the circumstance required as a team.

“There’s no doubt we can get in the trenches but there’s no doubt we can also move and share the ball.

“I think we’re in a good place, we can go big we can go little and run well but the thing right now is defence is what’s winning us basketball games.”

USA’s Paul George (L) called Australia a ‘dirty’ team.

Originally published as Boomers warning to rivals after ‘dirty’ claim: ‘We play hard as hell’