Olympic News and Scores

Good to see Brad Newley and the Boomers get on track today. Newley led all scorers with 24.

Spain 72 defeated Germany 59 boxscore

"Spain’s tenacious, hounding defense limited Germany’s NBA superstar Dirk Nowitzki to just 11 points on five of 15 shooting." - FIBA.COM recap

Australia 106 defeated Iran 68 boxscore

"That’s the monkey off our backs,” Brad Newley said after their first win here in Beijing. - FIBA.COM recap

China 85 defeated Angola 68 boxscore

"It feels great, when you win at the Olympics, in front of your home fans it is special,” Yao Ming said to FIBA.com. recap

Lithuania 86 defeated Russia 79 boxscore

Lithuania’s veteran point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius said, “It puts us in a good position to fight for the first place in the group." - FIBA.COM recap

USA 92 defeated Greece 69 boxscore

"Greece may have snuck up on the United States two years ago in Japan but the Americans were ready and waiting on Thursday night at the Wukesong Arena." - FIBA.COM recap

Argentina 77 defeated Croatia 53 boxscore

Other News

Pat Mills spends some time with FIBA.COM and answers a few questions.

"Australia coach Brian Goorjian launched a stout defense of under-fire center Andrew Bogut after the Boomers' 106-68 win over Iran." - fiba.com read more

Nowitzki loves the attention in Beijing.

"I want to meet Messi. If you see him, tell him I said, 'hello'," Kobe told the Olympic News Service after the win over China. - fiba.com read more

Boti Nagy talks about Shawn Redhage's Olympic role. I tend to agree.

Rivals.com and Pat Mills

My main man DJ Leon Smith talks about the Spanish photo shoot gone wrong.

NBL News

Hat tip to fellow blogger World Hoops Blog. (I do your enjoy your blog.) I offended him early in the week by thinking he was an Aussie. We all make mistakes, so I hope this American that gets a lot of traffic from the South Pacific area can forgive me?

Might need to keep a close eye on A Stern Warning as his Portland Blazers cannot take a trick with injury. Keep your head up champ, you could have been a Sonics fan!

Corey "Homicide" Williams talks about him and Rosell Ellis to be best import combo in the league.

Check out Global Basketball Trotter and find out who Andrew Bogut's new Milwaukee teammates are.

Adelaide 36ers coach Scott Ninnis talks about his team's abilities.

South Dragons beat the Melbourne Tigers.

Gold Coast Blaze lose to Purdue Boilermakers. boxscore

As reported here last week, Fox Sport is back..somewhat.

Everyone Loves A Blooper - Weightlifting is Dangerous in Beijing

Tomkins To Carry Flag, Jackson Talking Trash and NBL Preseason

What an honour - congrats to James Tomkins.

Tonight saw the Townsville Crocodiles open the preseason against the Perth Wildcats.

The Wildcats got away with a 100-91 win at Murray Stadium.

The Crocs got out of the blocks rather sluggishly allowing the Cats to go on a three point shooting barrage. Of the top of my head the Wildcats drained five threes in the first quarter, which helped them to a fast start.

They had a double digit lead for the majority of the 1st quarter. After that our defense improved and saw us go into half time trailing by three, 52-49.

For the remainder of the game it was a see saw affair until the last five minutes.

Perth caught fire again from the land of plenty. Six threes in the last five minutes allowed them to blow the score out of reach.

Perth 100 (Alec Loughton 25, Darnell Hinson 16, Stephen Weigh 15) beat the Crocs 91 (JR, On Fire 20, Kelvin Robertson 18, Michael Cedar 15)

I will try and hunt down a complete boxscore, later.

Notes of the Game

Alex Loughton was on fire early in the game. Scored his points in many different ways, threes (3/4), post ups and mid range. Could be a Boomer at the next Olympics.

Stephen Weigh: Although it is preseason and you don't want to get caught up in it all, the former Utah Ute will be a Rookie of the Year candidate.

Brad Robbins hair style has me believing Oasis (music group) has found a new band member.

Paul Rogers (knee surgery) and Shawn Redhage did not play for Perth.

Corey "Homicide" Williams (bad hair cut) and Brad Sheridan (rested) did not play for the Crocs.

Our next preseason game is against the Cairns Taipans on the 15th at Murray Stadium. See you there.

Also thanks to the people who are supporting the free throw challenge I have thrown back in Steve Nash's direction. I'm still waiting to hear back from him.

Other News:

James Tomkins to carry flag for Australia.

"People are going to try and stop us any way they can. They have to play like that otherwise we'll kill them." Opals centre Lauren Jackson speaking to Sportsnetwork. Got to love trash talking in the women's game. (video)

Dirk Nowitzki to carry flag for Germany, but some athletes disagree with decision.

Aussie Olympian Andrew Bogut (of Croatian heritage) wants to beat Croatia.

Bogut should be ready for Croatia.

The blog DEADSPIN is asking is Team USA doomed?

Article about Canberra athletes (Pat Mills) arriving in Beijing.

Yao Ming to carry Chinese flag for second time.

Only one Dream Team.

Former West Sydney teammate Steve Markovic signs in Italy.

Nathan Jawai, Boomers biggest fan.

Sean Lampley back on the Tigers radar?

Wollongong coach Eric Cooks might juggle this year.

For Troy DeVries fans, he is playing in Spain. (in Spanish)

Rod Grizzard in town for the Tigers.

Rosell Ellis ready to roll.

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

USA blogger Ben Breiner rips his team, calls Aussie team SPUNKY!

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.

Boomers Cough Up 19 Point Lead

Scola's play allowed his team to hang around and come back from 19 down to win.

Very similar to the game against Greece at the 2006 World Championships, the Australian Boomers gave up a 19 point third quarter lead, losing by four to Argentina.

The 95-91 final score doesn't show how much the Aussies got outplayed in the second half. Coach Brian Goorjian would not have been happy after the game, especially conceding 60 points in the second half.

The first quarter was played at a blistering pace and offense was not a problem for either team. When the quarter ended the Aussies had their nose in front, 25-21. Few shots were missed in this 10 minutes but there was no way this scorching pace could continue.

In the second quarter the Boomers continued their hot shooting while their defense stifled the South Americans and limited them to 11 points in the quarter. The half time score saw the Boomers head to the lockerroom with a 47-36 lead.

After half time it seemed like a formality the Boomers would coast to their second Diamond Ball Championship. Their offense continued to click and the Argentina team looked like they wanted to get to Beijing, quickly.

But then Luis Scola and Manu Ginobili decided they might as well win this game, since they were there.

Scola (32 pts, 28 in the 2nd half)) was unstoppable on his 13/18 shooting. Whether it was offensive rebounding or finding the gaps for lay ups around the basket, Scola dragged his team back into the contest.

Manu (24pts) was just as tough. He came up with many timely threes or knifed his way to the hoop with the shot clock winding down.

On the other hand, the Aussies turned over the ball too much and started looking around to see who was going to get it done.

If I was to pin point a section of play that cost the Aussies the game it was with about four to five minutes remaining in the game.

My boy Brad Newley missed a couple of free throws that would have really steadied the ship had he have made them. Going the other way the Argentine team scored and got fouled. They missed the free throw and Scola put the offensive rebound back in.

Although the Boomers held a slim lead (4-5 pts) this passage of play just saw the game's momentum change and favour Argentina now.

The game went down to the wire but the Boomers strategy down the stretch has to be questioned.

The clock became the Boomers enemy, but they seemed to be in no hurry to foul and send the opposition to the free throw line. It seemed like they were happy for the game to end.

I looked at this as a great opportunity for the team to work on a late game situation, especially with the Olympics starting next week.

As a fan we can say it was great to see how well the team competed against one of the better teams in the world, but how will this leave the team mentally?

The Boomers have one game left before the Olympics begin. This game is against Team USA and if they continue to play the way they did against Lithuania tonight, the Aussies will head to the Olympic Village with two loses from their last two starts.

Not ideal if you are trying to go into the Olympic tournament with some momentum.

Results From Diamond Ball

Angola (6th) vs Serbia (5th)

China (3rd) vs Iran (4th)

Argentina (1st) vs Australia (2nd)

Other Results

USA vs Lithuania

NBL News

Homicide back in town.

Aaron Bruce to eat pies (and play basketball) with Scott Ninnis.

Julius Hodge has given two teams a verbal agreement.

1991 NBL All Star Game - courtesy of NBLBBALL

CJ's The Hero But Bogut Plays Big

Andrew Bogut was head and shoulders above anyone else today.

Tonight CJ Bruton hit a three point shot with 0.2 seconds remaining to give the Australian Boomers a 81-78 win over African champions Angola.

Bruton was the hero but NBA star Andrew Bogut was the difference maker in this game. Bogut finished with a game high 32 points and 11 rebounds.

Although it was good to see Bogut heavily involved tonight, the Aussies cannot expect this to become the norm. we need more contributors if we are to advance in Beijing.

This was a close game from start to finish. The Boomers went into half time with a seven point lead thanks to a controversial three, but the Africans had it all squared away by three quarter time.

All tied up with 12 seconds to go, Bruton used a high on ball screen from Bogut with about 6 seconds remaining. Cool as the other side of your pillow Bruton launched the three and "bingo". The Boomers sneak out the victory.

The Angolans were a good hit out for the Boomers because of their quickness and ability to shoot the ball. Although one of the smaller teams going to the Olympics, they possess a few players that are multi talented.

A small centre Eduardo Mingas, power forward Joaquim Gomes and small forward Olimpia Cipriano will keep all teams honest in Beijing let alone the Aussies.

These three guys combined for 60 of the 78 points their team scored.

Another solid win by the Boomers who will now play Argentina for the championship of the Diamond Ball. This game is on the 1st of August (Friday) at 9.30pm EST. Check out www.justin.tv/antileech to catch the action live on the net.

Interesting note, that in tonight's game and against China, Goorjian has gone with Bruton, Bogut, Matt Nielsen, Brad Newley and Mark Worthington down the stretch.

Also, as the Boomers work closer to the opening game of the Olympic Games, Goorijan will look to tighten his rotations. I will keep an eye on this to see who will be the guys that fill the bench role of Tony Ronaldson, Martin Cattalini, Paul Rogers and myself at the last Olympics.

Other International Results

Argentina beats Serbia 75-60.
USA beats Turkey 114-82.

Chris Anstey interview from China


NBL News

Jason Castro will remain with Slingers.

Slingers controlled their own destiny.

Melbourne Tigers chasing Julius Hodge.

Blaze boss prepared to roll with the good and bad times.

"A lesser known player involved in this trade is Nathan Jawai, whose draft rights the Raptors acquired. The Raptors do not have a true center and the addition of this 6-10, 280 pound big man will help their inside presence. He has been working out with O'Neal at Joe Abunassar's Impact Basketball and posted 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds during summer league play. After winning two NBL titles back home, Jawai is eager to help the Raptors in their title quest." - Courtesy of Hoopsworld.com

A positive write up for the former Cairns Taipan, Nathan Jawai. Considering it was his rookie year last year, it is interesting that he has won two NBL titles though.

Chris Anstey extends contract for another two years with the Melbourne Tigers.

Aleks Maric set to play in Spain for the next two years.

Steve Nash/Baron Davis Movie - funny stuff (I'm stealing DJ Leon Smith's material, sorry!)

When Something Just Eats At You

I didn't agree with this at the time and still don't, but the Pigs are dead.

"The Spirit are a relatively new team to the NBL and they have had some success; however, they have never won the grand final. Being a new member to the team; what do you think needs to be done to win a championship and how are you going to help achieve that?" A question asked by Nick Thomas of http://www.nbl.com.au/ when interviewing import David Gruber.

This question has been eating away at me all day for some reason so I will be interested to see what you the reader thinks as well. (So post a comment if you wish.)

At first read I thought it was my lack of sleep over the past few days (I've been rising at 4.45am to co host a radio breakfast show. 4TO is the station if you wanted to know.) that was clouding my brain, but the more I think about it the more it eats at me.

Nick Thomas, the Sydney Spirit (and even that is questionable at the moment) are a brand new team and have absolutely no success to talk about. They have no history as a club, so how have they had success as a club?

Your right in saying they have never won a grand final but they have never been in one either, unlike the Pigs that played in two during their ten year existence.

The Razorbacks are dead and buried. The moment the Spirit was formed the history book on the Pigs was closed.

If I'm Gruber, I'm saying it is fantastic to be a foundation member of a new team and I hope the Sydney public support their team.

If you want to unite the Sydney people you cannot continue to refer back to the Razorback days. You need to move on and call it what it is.

Although I don't agree with this "merger" you have to call it a fresh start otherwise Kings fans will get sick and tired of hearing about the Pig days.

I could talk about this topic for hours but I would give you all a headache, including myself, so I will end this ranting and raving for now.

Mr Thomas and everyone else, the Pigs are dead, so we all need to move on!

Other Stories

Q & A with Adelaide 36ers Luke Schenscher.

The full Q & A with Sydney Spirit's David Gruber.

Hawaiian born Derrick Low is seriously looking at a contract with the Spirit. The Washington State grad would come in and run the point for the new franchise.

Scott MacGregor to be a catwalk model. I would love to see that. It is all for a good cause, the Jane McGrath Foundation.

Neil Mottram will study till Christmas, then hope a job comes up.

Matt Nielsen named captain for Beijing Games.

The (wild) cat is out of the bag. Andrew Vlahov is running the sport of basketball in Australia.

Tasmanian coach wins award.

NZNBL player admits to "blazing up".

Questions asked about Team USA.

George Hill - Spurs rookie guard ready to crack the Big Time.

RIP Sonics - Reign Man's Top 10 Dunks

Newley Moves To New Greek Team & Other Hoops News

Barkley's golf swing will do this to anyone. Find out more below.

Brad Newley is learning what life is about as an import.

Before departing Greece about a month ago he felt that he was going to return to the club, Panionios, that he had just completed his first Greek season with.

After some water had passed under that bridge and no spot there, Newley has signed with a new Greek club, Panellinios.

When I last chatted with Brad he was disappointed in having to change clubs because his old team had just qualified for Euroleague next season. For people that don't know, Euroleague is the best competition outside of the NBA.

After getting over the original heartache, Brad is looking forward to his new team and the added responsibility he will have within the team.

Panellinios still has to qualify for ULEB. ULEB is the second best European competition, so he still would be playing against some strong international competition as well as the tough Greek domestic league.

Although Newley has to possibly wait another season to take his game to Euroleague, I'm sure another season in the Greek league will only improve his game. He will be asked to score more on a consistent basis with his new team, so Newley's game will only keep getting better.

I'm looking at his situation rather selfishly for Australian basketball's future. With his continued improvement, he will be one of the best international two guards by the time the 2012 Olympics come around.

I personally feel this will be the Olympics where the Boomers will really push for a major medal.

With Newley signing now instead of waiting till later to see what is available, his mind will be clear for a good performance in Beijing.

If he had waited to sign till after the Olympics, that would have created a lot of weight on his mind.

All the best to Brad for the Olympics and his continuing career in Europe.

Gold Coast Blaze have re-signed import Luke Whitehead for the upcoming NBL season. They have an excess of front court players now. Ben Melmeth, Pero Cameron, Scott MacGregor, Casey Frank, Juaquin Hawkins and Whitehead will all be fighting for minutes.

Basketball Australia is not sure how to approach marketing the Boomers. Andrew Vlahov knows how.

Spirits not so high in Bendigo right now. They want Sydney's spirits dampened, for good.

Check out fellow blogger A Stern Warning. He has some great articles, especially the one about Atlanta Hawk, Josh Childress potentially walking away from the NBA. Seems like some top European teams are making a push for some credentialed NBA players. $20 million over three years will make most think twice. More on Childress.

TrueHoop's review the Vegas Summer League. A insightful recap of what happened over the week.

ESPN's Chris Sheridan takes a look at what Team USA has been up to.

Who's Hot and Who's Not in Utah's Summer League.

"I thought the way [the Nuggets] went about it was classless," he said. "I thought it could have gone down a whole lot better. I'll get over it once training camp begins when I'm around the guys. You never forget. I'm definitely looking forward to those couple games we play against Denver." - Marcus Camby (Associated Press)

"I've tried everything," Barkley says. "Tiger can't help me 'cause the hitch is there no matter what. I even tried getting hypnotized for 45 minutes and still woke up with the same crappy swing." And so it went the rest of the day: Barkley making people laugh and hug him, interrupted by these sporadic fits that made them look away in sympathy. "Hey, I know I suck," he yelled on the eighth hole, still lying two and not yet to the women's tees, "but I got nice equipment." - Charles Barkley. Check out my favourite sports author Rick Reilly's article on Sir Charles.

Long Live The Snakepit

There Is Only One "Dream Team" & News

The one and only "Dream Team". USA named its Beijing Olympic Team today. (read about it below.)

Today the U.S Olympic basketball team was named. Although it is a stronger outfit than the Bronze Medal 2004 Athens team, I feel they will have their work cut out for them if they are to capture the Gold in Beijing.

The team is very strong on the perimeter with Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Jason Kidd anchoring the guard positions.

They have great depth at the point guard position with Kidd (who has never lost in the red, white and blue colours), 2008 NBA MVP candidate Chris Paul and always improving Utah Jazz PG Deron Williams.

At shooting guard you have options in the way of Bryant, Dwayne Wade and the only pure shooter on the roster, Milwaukee Buck Michael Redd.

The small forward position is loaded with James, Carmelo Anthony and defensive specialist Tayshaun Prince. You have a nice mix here with Anthony being your best international player at this position and maybe on the team.

The "big man" department is where I see the USA team being vulnerable. Dwight Howard, Carlos Boozer and Chris Bosh are your only true interior players. Foul trouble could see the USA forced to play "small ball".

Although Boozer has experienced the Olympics before, I'm not sold on him being a force at the international level yet. Packing the defense in will force Boozer to make some decisions. This is not a strength of his. While both Bosh and Howard are still maturing as players and will be tested for sure against some of the veteran international players.

This lack of depth here will see Anthony log a lot of minutes in the four position. Going with this type of line up should be advantageous for the Stars and Stripes with Anthony having the ability to knock down the perimeter shot.

The point guards on this roster are primarily penetrators so having a big to spread the floor is a necessity for the PG's to be effective. Remember, in the past players like Stephon Marbury have struggled due to the inability to knock down the outside shot.

I was surprised they did not pick another legitimate "lights out" shooter to go with Redd. If he is having an off night or tournament, Kobe and Carmelo better to hitting from the land of plenty.

If they cannot consistently knock down perimeter shots, the USA better get used to facing a lot of zone defense again.

The strength of this team will their pressure defense. The wings will play the lanes like a hawk knowing the Howard or Bosh is back there to help if they get beaten on a backdoor play.

In Athens I saw James have an impact on the game by just playing the lanes and creating easy baskets. I look for more of the same from this team, but with better success as Bryant will be doing the same on the other wing and Prince backing these guys up.

If this team can create a lot of points from their defense they will not have to worry about their half court offense. The only trouble is, to win a medal you will be forced to play in the half court by the European teams.

Carmelo Anthony is the key to success for the US. His ability to play both inside and out will create mismatches against all opponents. He needs to be huge in Beijing if they are to win back the GOLD.

The NBA Draft is fast approaching so ESPN's Chad Ford has put forth his 6.0 Edition Mock Draft. He currently has Aussie Nathan Jawai going to the Minnesota Timberwolves at number 34.

If NBA rumours are for you, check these out.

Carmelo to miss first two games for DUI.

NBL News:

NBL and BA to merge, eventually.

Stephenson to be rubber stamped as Bullets owner. (side note: If this goes ahead and Jeff van Groningen is involved, Joey Wright will not be the coach.)

Latest on Jawai.

Crosswhite could become a Snake.

Former Towel Boy trying to save the Kings.

Shaq rapping and killing anyone who gets in his way.