Boomers receive Olympic wake-up call in warm-up loss to Brazil
The Olympic basketball tournament tips off in about a week’s time, but with the way the Boomers looked in a 96-67 loss to Brazil, Andrej Lemanis’ men wouldn’t mind a couple of more weeks to prepare.
Tipped by some to finally break Australia’s men’s basketball medal hoodoo, the Boomers looked poor in all aspects against the host nation, despite the Boomers breaking out to an 11-2 lead early.
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From that point on though, the Brazilians had their way with the Boomers and a quick glance over the stat sheet tells the story.
The Boomers shot just 38 percent from the field and had only one player reach double-digits, which was Patty Mills, who scored a game-high 18-points. After that, David Andersen and Brock Motum scored seven, while Aron Baynes, Ryan Broekhoff, Matthew Dellavedova, Kevin Lisch and Cameron Bairstow all chipped in six points.
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Australia was outscored 32-15 to end the game.
It must be noted that the Boomers were missing two key cogs. Joe Ingles didn’t play, just arriving in Rio after the berth of his twins, but he is expected to play against Lithuania on Sunday morning. Meanwhile, Andrew Bogut continues his recovery from a knee injury suffered in the NBA Finals.
The absence of Bogut has robbed the Boomers of a legitimate paint presence, an element that was painfully obvious in the loss. Bogut will play in the Games, with Aleks Maric set to be sent home.
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The performance is disappointing considering the Boomers looked more than formidable in their previous warm-up game against Argentina, knocking off the fourth ranked side, 84-83, earlier in the week. It points to what could be an inconsistent showing in Rio.
For Brazil, Raul Neto top-scored with 17 points.
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