Boomers Have Good Showing and Fox Sports Are Back

Fox will be back on board, just not in the capacity we are used to.

Before I get onto a recap of the Australian Boomers and Team USA game, NBL fans will be happy to know that Fox Sports will once again be on board.

Although we the fans are used to watching two and sometimes three live games a week, my mail is telling me it is being reduced to one live game per week.

"Big Wednesday" is out the door so the NBL and Fox met today (Tuesday) to discuss what day would work for both parties. By my calculations, that means Friday or Saturday becomes the only night we will view the NBL on the tube.

Now to the Boomers game.

What a great showing they put forth against Team USA. The final score, 87-76, doesn't really reflect how the Andrew Bogutless (ankle injury) Aussies hung around in this game for quite some time.

From the jump ball the Boomers made sure the Americans knew they were in for a ball game.

CJ Bruton got the scoring underway for the Aussies with a trademark three and things just flowed from there. Brad Newley scored an early five points, so the fast start allowed the green and gold to gain in confidence and continue to play well.

Sure there where some loose turnovers that led to some easy transition points for the USA team, but the Aussies were showing good patience's on offense.

Boomers coach Brian Goorijan had his troops primed on defense as well. First they took away fast break points, then in the half court they really packed it in to alleviate as much penetration as possible. A real strength of the USA team.

The half time score of 44-29 shows that the Boomers offense was sluggish but at the beginning of the third quarter, I liked what I saw.

David Barlow was getting and making wide open shots, while Newley was giving the Americans trouble with his ability to penetrate at the basket. This is the strength of both these guys and I feel they need to be achieving this for the Boomers to win.

The Boomers cannot just rely on CJ and the interior guys to get it done. Newley and Barlow need to be consistently involved to give the team some balance from the outside.

Turnovers and free throws is what hurt the Boomers. The Americans are still the best getting around in regards to offensive transition, so they make you pay when you are loose with the ball. 18 turnovers is a little high in a game like this, and many of these were converted into easy buckets at the other end.

Going 10-17 from the charity stripe hurt as well. With easy points on offer here the Boomers needed to convert at a higher percentage to take full advantage of the opportunities presented.

All in all though I was impressed with how the Boomers faired in the game. Trademark Goorijan defense was there while the offense seems to be finding its feet.

If they can continue to play at this intensity level for all games I cannot see why they cannot advance into the second week of Olympic play.

Team USA 87 (D Wade 22, L James 16, K Bryant 13, C Anthony 12 and 10) defeated Australia 76 (C Anstey 13, P Mills 13, D Barlow 12, CJ Bruton 11, B Newley 11)

NEWS

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5 reasons why Australia pushed the USA.

Complete 2008/09 NBL season draw.

Nathan Jawai learning NBA ropes.


Some footage from the Boomers vs Team USA game - comments from some guy who's struggling.