Boomers long shot Jack McVeigh stars as Australia downs China in Paris Olympics warm-up clash
Initially considered a long shot to make the Boomers’ Olympic team, a scorching display from Jack McVeigh against China has given the NBL grand final MVP a vice-like grip on a ticket to Paris.
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Initially considered a long shot to make the Boomers’ Olympic team, a scorching display from Jack McVeigh against China has given the NBL grand final MVP a vice-like grip on a ticket to Paris.
John Cain Arena has become the happiest of hunting grounds for McVeigh — the last time he stepped on the floor in Melbourne, the confetti fell as his Tasmania JackJumpers’ produced a stunning game five NBL grand final triumph over Melbourne United and lifted the Dr John Raschke Trophy.
Oh, and there’s ‘The Shot’ — his game three grand final buzzer-beating dagger from 25 metres that fell like a hailstone from heaven, one of the greatest moments in NBL grand final history and a key pillar in his run to the Larry Sengstock Trophy for player of the series.
“I definitely woke up this morning and said the last time we were here there were some good memories made, I definitely enjoy this arena,” McVeigh told Code Sports post-game.
“It’s where I envisioned my basketball career taking off, in the bubble (2020) when a guy on our team got injured and that was the first time I had played legitimate consistent minutes in the NBL so this arena will always mean something special to me.”
McVeigh’s passion, desperation and flat out shotmaking during the Boomers’ early in-house scrimmages had already separated him from a gaggle of power forwards fighting for a couple of Olympic spots — featuring big names Joe Ingles, Nick Kay, Xavier Cooks and Jack White.
The question was, could the 28-year-old replicate it on the international stage?
“I back myself in, and it’s up to the coaches still at this point but I just want to effect winning and help the Boomers win a medal,” the NBL champion said.
“Right now I’m locked in, it’s a marathon not a sprint. I’m going to show up to training and get after it, and then we have a game on Thursday and if I make the team, I’ll be locked in and ready to go to Paris.”
“I just love playing basketball and I’m grateful I get to do it here.”
On Tuesday night in a 107-87 belting of China, coach Brian Goorjian got an emphatic answer from the smiling Cabarita Beach assassin.
In a four-minute second-quarter purple patch, McVeigh was a one-man wrecking crew for the Boomers, scoring 10 of 11 points on his way to a game-high 24 points on 6/8 shooting from deep.
Even the GOAT was impressed.
“He is putting himself in a situation where it is going to be a struggle not to pick him,” Boomers legend Andrew Gaze said on the ESPN broadcast.
“This is really impressive from McVeigh, the composure.”
In a team that desperately lacked shooting and individual scoring punch at last year’s World Cup, McVeigh has shown he can be a big part of the tonic in Paris.
It’s likely Cooks — who signed to play under Goorjian at the Sydney Kings for the next three seasons — will go to Paris, given his ability to distribute, rebound and play small-ball five.
He looked at home, stuffing the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal.
That fearsome battle for spots at the four means Goorjian has to decide if he wants to take Ingles to a record-equalling fifth Olympics, give Kay — who is arguably the Boomers’ most-respected player but was exposed defensively at last year’s World Cup when switched onto guards — lean on the tireless, uber-athlete White or reward untried McVeigh with an Olympic berth.
Gaze believes Kay is on the outer.
“Nick Kay has been a warrior in the past but he could be the one that comes (out) at the expense of McVeigh,” he said.
“I wouldn’t have said that three months ago.”
The Boomers showed a willingness to share the rock, with a remarkable 31 assists on 37 made field goals, and look set to rely heavily on the three ball — 45 of their 77 attempts came from the land of plenty, with 19 makes.
Melbourne United trio Chris Goulding, Matthew Dellavedova and White did not have their names called before halftime but two of the three made an early mark after the break.
Goulding checked in for the first time half way through the third and immediately went to work, draining a trademark three in just seconds.
On the very next play, Dellavedova emulated him.
Then McVeigh bobbed up again to make it three Boomers treys in a row — and a double-digit lead.
He checked out of the game to a warm applause from the 8142-strong JCA crowd.
Goulding, whose World Cup preparation was rocked by an ankle injury, showed how potent he can be, pouring in 11 points in a six-minute spurt that busted the game wide open — something he’s done countless times on the JCA floor he has made his own with United.
Fully healthy, the greatest shooter of the NBL’s 40-minute era looms as a deadly weapon for this incarnation of the Boomers.
Nominal starting centre Jock Landale watched on in street clothes as his big-man partner in crime Duop Reath carried over his emergent NBA form with the Portland Trailblazers — which really began last year in Okinawa — knocking down a pair of three-pointers in a one-man eight-point first-quarter run, on his way to 21 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocks.
It got physical late in the fourth as Reath appeared to headbutt Chinese big man Runwang Du.
It looked nastier in real-time than on replay, with the headbutt making minimal contact — exaggerated by a flopping Du.
Reath was assessed a technical and it will be interesting to see if any more comes of it in the post-game wash up.
A former Goorjian disciple in Illawarra, the 28-year-old South Sudan-born centre has given his national team coach something to think about when it comes to who starts at the five in Paris.
After taxing NBA Finals campaigns with Dallas, both Dante Exum and newly-minted Charlotte Hornet Josh Green sat out with Landale.
Goorjian is building his Paris assault around NBA guards Exum, Green and Giddey — who started but played just the seven minutes — and will base his squad selection primarily on who fits best with that trio and big men Landale and Reath.
In scrimmages, Goorjian has, at times, rolled out a funky four-wing line-up of Thybulle, Goulding, Green and Daniels, with Duop Reath at the five.
It’s an unenviable selection task with Ingles — six assists to go with eight points — providing unique value as a veteran leader and set up man and Dellavedova’s game-high seven dimes and elite defence giving the Boomers a huge +19 advantage in just 14 minutes on the floor.
Exum and Green trained for the first time on Sunday and it’s understood the precision in their sets lifted significantly.
There’s even a world where Dellavedova — given another chance after being an early cull from last year’s World Cup squad — is selected, with Daniels utilised as a wing.
Goorj and his fellow selectors have multiple iterations of the 12-man squad for Paris and maybe McVeigh was the only puzzle piece to fall into place, with one game to go against China on Thursday.
As 220cm teen Rocco Zikarsky watched on from the sidelines, China had its own unmissable giant in 7’3” Jiahao Yu, who stood over everyone in the stadium — save for 229cm Houston Rockets legend Yao Ming, who was in the stands to watch his countrymen take on the Boomers.
Goorjian said Tuesday night’s rotation was an audition for several players on the cusp of selection but Thursday would be the real deal, with all of Landale, Green and Exum set to play and Giddey to be unleashed.
“The way he (McVeigh) shot the ball tonight and he’s been doing that and everybody’s been talking about it in practice,” Goorjian said.
“But I just thought the guys who are under the microscope, the ones we were glued on tonight (played well).”
“The decision’s coming quick.”
Goorjian confirmed the cull from 17 down to 12 would be made after Thursday night’s game.
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