What we learnt from the Boomers’ Olympic warm-up loss against USA: Jock Landale key, Patty Mills a concern

The Boomers have pushed a US team brimming with superstar talent all the way ahead of the Olympics, giving green and gold fans plenty to be optimistic about, writes MICHAEL RANDALL.

Jock Landale immediately showed why he was so sorely missed at last year’s FIBA World Cup, Matthew Dellavedova justified his Olympic reprieve and Dyson Daniels arrived on the big stage as the Boomers sent a scare through Team USA and gave a nervous green and gold fanbase cause for optimism.

Just over a week after the controversial selection omission of Tokyo bronze medallist Matisse Thybulle, a bright start from the Boomers looked like it would meander to a crushing Team USA win.

But Dellavedova’s fourth-quarter appearance injected life into the Aussies and they ate away at what had been a double-digit lead for most of the night to finish six short, 98-92.

Star guard Giddey (17 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists) gave Chicago Bulls fans a look at what they can expect this NBA season and said, post-game, he was proud of the Boomers’ fight back.

“They got out to a big lead and in an exhibition game like this it would have been easy for our guys to throw the towel in, call it a night, get ready for the next game but I think credit to the guys, we stuck with it,” Giddey said.

“The fact we were six points off a team like that at this part of our preparation for the Olympics is a great stepping stone and we’ve got so many things to clean up in there. We’re building really good momentum going forward.”

Dellavedova shows why he was picked

Among the glitz of the star-studded US line-up, big man Landale was the cream of the crop in Abu Dhabi, leading the charge with 20 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals in a dominant all-court performance.

And Dellavedova, the 33-year-old back from national team wilderness after being left out of that World Cup squad, might have had the best scoreless exhibition cameo of any Boomer ever.

Rabid Dellavedova keyed a 13-3 Boomers run in four crucial minutes, the Melbourne United veteran with 2 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal as the lead was cut from 16 to 6 with three minutes left in the game.

It’s no wonder United coach Dean Vickerman is a little worried Delly might catch the eye of an NBA team hunting a savvy veteran locker room presence.

The Boomers will live by Landale and floor general Giddey, but Daniels’ impact at both ends (14 points, 3 steals) of the court gave credence to national team coach Brian Goorjian’s decision to take the Victorian to Paris over the more seasoned Thybulle.

Goorjian said the physical “bump and grind” Boomers would take belief out of the second-half bounce back.

“The exciting part for us as we got better as the game went on and my job right now is to convince my team on how do you win?” Goorjian said.

“And we’ve been talking about it, we went away from it and they blew us out. We came back to the style that we wanted to play and it came through the defence.”

Matthew Dellavedova keyed 13-3 in four minutes. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

Mills is Boomers’ biggest worry

Tasmania NBL championship pair Will Magnay (8 points, 3 rebounds) and Jack McVeigh (9 points) acquitted themselves well. McVeigh has the attention of NBA teams as a potential two-way candidate, while Magnay was preferred to Portland centre Duop Reath as Landale’s back up.

The biggest worry right now for the Boomers is the form of soon-to-be five-time Olympian Patty Mills.

After struggling against the inferior China, Mills looked off the pace again against Team USA.

He had as many turnovers (5) as points (5) and missed six of his eight shots as the Boomers were -16 in his 22 minutes on the floor.

Goorjian is trying to get game-time into the 35-year-old who has played sparingly in the past two seasons (13 minutes per game across 72 games) and whether the legendary bronzed Boomers can find his shot will likely hold a long way to fulfilling any hope of escaping the group of death in Paris.

Mills did hit a clutch three during the Boomers’ late flurry but then missed a contested midrange jumper and a wide open trey that would have cut the margin to one.

Tyrese Haliburton went back up and hit a dagger through the heart three to make it nine before Mills was locked up and Team USA forced a shot clock violation.

The Boomers employed a zone defence in a bid to stop US penetration and slow things down. It largely worked but the Americans’ laser-like shooting from the outside cut deep – their first four buckets of the game were all three balls and they shot 12-29 on the night – 42 per cent.

Conversely, the Boomers made just 4-18 deep tries at 22 per cent – a number magnified when elite marksmen Chris Goulding and Dejan Vasiljevic were left at home.

The Aussies struggled to contain LA Lakers beast Anthony Davis, who plundered 17 points, 14 rebounds and a couple of blocks in just 18 minutes, while Devin Booker had an effortless 16.

Patty Mills’ form is the Boomers’ biggest concern. Picture: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP

Landale leaves a big impression

Houston Rocket Landale – whose World Cup campaign was over before it began when he wrecked his ankle in a warm up game – was on a mission as soon as he stepped over the sideline.

He skied to win the opening tip against giant Cameroonian Team USA commit Joel Embiid and, on the very first play, was involved in some slick pick and roll action with Giddey.

He missed his first try at the cup, then the second, but made amends with the tip in to open the Boomers’ scoring.

The 28-year-old then flared out and hit from deep, before keeping another miss alive and turning the second chance into a gorgeous interior shovel feed to Nick Kay for the slam.

Add another offensive board and putback and, when he sat halfway through the first, Landale had half of the Boomers’ 14 points and a hand in the bulk of the rest.

The Boomers got as close as 21-19 with 2.26 to go in the opening period but allowed the US to reel off an 11-2 run to close down 32-21 at the first break. Apart from a 7-0 stretch in the second that pegged the margin back to nine, Team USA felt in control, before the tide turned too late for the Boomers.

The Aussies back up in the early hours of Wednesday against three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and Serbia.

“This is my fourth the Olympics and I don’t think I played a better basketball team (USA) than we played tonight in my whole time, just man-for-man,” Goorjian said.

“We’re coming up against another MVP and a team that got the (World Cup) silver medal, so we’re getting great preparation moving into this tournament (Olympics).”

Originally published as What we learnt from the Boomers’ Olympic warm-up loss against USA: Jock Landale key, Patty Mills a concern