FIBA World Cup: Australian Boomers issues with slow starts finally comes back to haunt them against Germany
As Australia looks to get its World Cup campaign back on track, coaching legend Trevor Gleeson has urged Brian Goorjian to consider big changes to the Boomers line-up.
Basketball
Don't miss out on the headlines from Basketball. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Australia’s starters must eradicate their early-game struggles and find a way to burst out of the blocks to alleviate the pressure of being forced to fight back from deep holes if they want a medal at the FIBA World Cup.
There’s no doubt opposing teams have placed an emphasis on coming out hard against the Aussies, fully aware of how deep the green and gold runs – coach Brian Goorjian shares the key minute load across 10 players, all of whom have matchwinning abilities.
But across their past five games – three warm-ups and two World Cup group clashes – the Boomers have been outscored 28-75 in early first-quarter exchanges.
It was the ugliest of starts, again, against Germany.
Three misses and two turnovers against four German buckets left the Aussies down 8-0 on four German buckets, forcing coach Brian Goorjian to call a time-out with just 2:39 gone in the game.
The master coach tore strips off the Aussies with a classic spray.
“I don’t know what’s going on, man,” Goorjian roared, staring down young gun Josh Giddey.
“F**k, we’re playing for our lives. Two dead bodies. Swallow the f**king ball.
“Come on now.
“Boys, we got to pick this up, it’s embarrassing.”
A lift came from Patty Mills, but the Germans kept cooking and the Boomers found themselves down 16-5.
Thank the basketball gods for FIBA Patty, who poured in the Aussies’ first 13 points to ensure the game didn’t get out of hand.
From there, it became an entertaining arm-wrestle the Aussies looked primed to win with a four-point buffer heading into the final frame.
A disastrous start to the fourth quarter allowed the Germans to go on a two-minute 10-0 run to flip the deficit into a six-point lead.
The Boomers would not find themselves in front again as a combination of bad luck and bad decisions culminated in an 82-85 defeat.
German point guard Dennis Schroder dominated with 30 points and eight assists but almost went from hero to zero when Kay trapped him in the back court and the tiniest part of his right Puma kissed the sideline to hand the ball back to the Boomers, who were down one with 23.6 seconds left.
But Josh Giddey was sent to the bench with blood on his arm and Mills turned it over. The Boomers took an eon to foul and, with 4.7 seconds left, Josh Green took a punt on the inbound and got caught on the wrong side of Maodo Lo, allowing an easy lay-up.
As time expired, Giddey launched a prayer from inside the halfway line under what might have been overzealous pressure from German big man Daniel Thies, leaving the 20-year-old gun and Goorjian angered, but the damage had been done.
TIME FOR BIG CHANGE?
Without injured big man Jock Landale, the fears over interior defence looked like they might have finally come home to roost – the four German buckets all came at the rim on two lay-ups, an alley-oop and a dunk, with the Boomers unable to cover once their offence was blown up or wing defenders beaten.
Sole traditional centre Duop Reath didn’t take a shot in the first half and the ever-reliable Nick Kay became a target on switches for the Germans.
It left Kay’s former coach Trevor Gleeson calling for a change in the hope of arresting the tip-off lethargy.
“I think Brian’s really got to have a look at those starters,” Gleeson said on ESPN.
“They’ve started poor in a number of different games so someone’s going to have to change the role there just to bring that different energy out of there and that spark.”
To be fair on those men, the worry over size might have been overblown – the Boomers won the rebound count 32-27 and points in the paint 38-34 and Reath sprung to life with eight points – including a pair of threes in the third.
Reath has shown an ability to hit from deep and, if the Boomers need energy, perhaps Goorj could entertain starting the game-changing Xavier Cooks alongside him – although that could bastardise a second unit that has been nothing short of sensational in a must-win clash with Japan on Tuesday.
X MARKS THE SPOT
The starts might be a big problem but the positive for the Boomers is they are never out of a contest.
It’s an ability they’ve had to exercise throughout their build up and the tournament-proper out of necessity – but it’s a great thing to be able to fall back on.
Across those aforementioned five games, the Boomers have outscored their opponents by 35 in second halves, winning all but one.
Xavier Cooks has been one of the key never-say-die Boomers who has kept them in games and his performance against Germany might have been his best.
Cooks was +12 in his 21 minutes – a game-high among both teams in a losing effort – producing a full line of nine points, five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal.
The former Sydney King, who chalked up a pair of NBL titles and a finals MVP before making his NBA debut with Washington this year, is Australia’s Swiss Army knife.
X is the Aussie x-factor at both ends, especially defensively.
He’s the only Boomer who can switch one-through-five and lose nothing, guarding talls, smalls and everything in between with equal efficiency.
Goorjian closed with Cooks over Reath and, as previously floated, he might choose to open with him as well.
In another life, Cooks might be a Boomers’ hard luck story – he’s 27 but never wore the green and gold in a FIBA international until Friday’s opener against Finland.
He was in the 2019 World Cup team when a torn meniscus ruined that chance, an emergency on the Tokyo ‘rose gold’ Boomers and had always been laid up with niggles during other FIBA qualifying opportunities.
“I made the team, then I didn’t make it the next time,” Cooks said, last month.
“Even just qualifying games, I’d put my hand up every time and I’d roll my ankle or something like that, so (it’s) just been an unlucky situation.
“It’s crazy but it makes the good moments so much sweeter knowing you had to go through the adversity.”
More Coverage
Originally published as FIBA World Cup: Australian Boomers issues with slow starts finally comes back to haunt them against Germany
Kings adopt ‘siege mentality’ with NBL campaign on the brink
Sydney coach Brian Goorjian has put a rocket up his struggling Kings, Josh King reveals how he’ll right the ship at the Phoenix and we reveal our NBL Next Stars power rankings ahead of some big decisions. All that, and more, in CROSSCOURT.
Aussie NBA scout: Issue ‘scared’ Ben may never fix
One week into the new NBA season, we’ve had our first look at the Aussies across the league, many of which are in new spots.