Boomers Breakdown: Assessing Australia’s impressive win over Germany

Monday, August 2, 2021

Assessing Australia’s impressive win over Germany

By Liam Santamaria

Undefeated, baby!

On the back of a really solid win over Germany, the Boomers have officially completed the group phase of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with an undefeated record. Bloody brilliant!

Sure, the Aussies were expected to march through Group B. But slip-ups happen. Upsets do happen. And in a tournament like the Olympics, every result matters.

Heck, a loss to Germany last night could have had disastrous consequences. Depending on the margin, it could potentially have dropped the Boomers to as low as third in the group and created a nightmare quarter-final match-up against the likes of France or the USA.

Instead, the Boomers got the job done, setting themselves up for a quarter final showdown with either the loser of Spain vs Slovenia or the winner of Argentina vs Japan.

More on the quarter finals later. Firstly, here’s the low down on the win over Deutschland.

LIFE AFTER BAYNESY

This was the big question heading into the game: how would the Boomers cover for the loss of Aron Baynes?

It’s a tricky situation as Brian Goorjian and his staff opted for a little extra perimeter depth when selecting the team instead of bringing along a fifth big. Power forwards Xavier Cooks and Brock Motum were overlooked in favour of an extra ball-handler in Nathan Sobey and an extra wing in Josh Green.

So, with Baynes going down, the Boomers are now left with just three genuine bigs; Jock Landale, Nick Kay and Duop Reath.

Landale and Kay were both terrific against Germany. Like, really terrific. More on them in a sec. Reath, meanwhile, was much less inspiring. What did look good were some of the smaller line-ups that Goorjian employed.

Over the course of the night the Boomers rolled out 12 different line-ups that featured only one of Landale/Kay/Reath on the floor– all of which involved Joe Ingles as a small-ball four.

Those groups generally got smashed on the boards. However their ball pressure forced turnovers and the spacing they created helped initiate free-flowing offensive attacks.

The real test for our suddenly undersized squad will, of course, come in the knockout rounds against countries like France and Spain. Those kinds of teams have the dangerous combination of really quality bigs and elite guard play that can pick you apart.

LANDALE AND KAY STEPPED UP

Okay, let’s talk about these two legends as they were outstanding last night.

And let’s start with Landale because right from the opening tip the Larry Sengstock Medallist was active, engaged and on the attack.

Landale drained a three-pointer on Australia’s very first possession and then followed that with a beautiful bucket off a roll to the rim. From there he never looked back. Outside, inside… however Germany wanted it, the big fella was ready to oblige. He even did some work from the elbows; throwing a memorable lead pass to Exum, right at the rim.

When all was said and done, Landale finished with 18 points (on 70 per cent shooting from the field), three rebounds, three assists and a block. The boards will need to go up but the rest of his game was tremendous.

As for Kay, well he’s quickly rivalling Patty and Matisse as everyone’s favourite Boomer.

The two-time NBL champ was superb last night as he posted 16 points, four rebounds and four assists in his 31 minutes on the floor.

Highly influential all game long, Kay was particularly impactful down the stretch.

With around three and-a-half minutes remaining and Germany still within striking distance, Kay tipped in a miss from Patty, slid his feet and forced a turnover and then stuck a mid-range jumper to put the game beyond doubt.

The boy from Tamworth is now a bona fide stud on the international stage.

THYBULLE IS A MENACE

Could you imagine playing against that dude? My goodness, what a nightmare.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Things other teams should not try when playing the Boomers:<br><br>1) Dribbling the ball when <a href="https://twitter.com/MatisseThybulle?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MatisseThybulle</a> is in the area. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7Olympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#7Olympics</a> <a href="https://t.co/6oEhDfYwAI">pic.twitter.com/6oEhDfYwAI</a></p>— 7Olympics (@7olympics) <a href="https://twitter.com/7olympics/status/1421404134381588485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

One of the best things about this current Boomers squad is when Thybulle and Exum enter the game, our defence goes up two or three levels.

PATTY MILLIONS

Speaking of stepping things up, there are very few things better in this world than when Patty Mills goes into fourth-quarter take-over mode for the Boomers.

He did it again last night when he started creating out of pick and rolls midway through the fourth.

Sometimes he got the switch and did this…

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Good defence. Better offence.<br><br>Patty is cookin' in the fourth quarter ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7Olympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#7Olympics</a> <a href="https://t.co/lV7VGqypIg">pic.twitter.com/lV7VGqypIg</a></p>— 7Olympics (@7olympics) <a href="https://twitter.com/7olympics/status/1421406599546089479?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While other times he split the D and sliced his way into the lane.

God bless Patty. How lucky we are to have him.

THREE GUARD LINE-UPS

I spoke earlier about the small-ball line-ups that Goorj used last night, most of which had Ingles at the four and Thybulle at the three. However, there were a few occasions when the Boomers went to line-ups that involved three ball-handlers sharing the floor together.

We saw a little bit of Delly, Mills and Exum together at one stage but the line-ups that were really effective were those that involved Mills, Exum and Sobey. Those three played close to seven total minutes together last night and, thanks to up-tempo plays like the one below, the Boomers more than doubled Germany’s score during those stretches.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Push in transition, find the man in the open corner, let Patty do the rest.<br><br>Mills drills the go-ahead triple ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7Olympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#7Olympics</a> <a href="https://t.co/3ztzryulvH">pic.twitter.com/3ztzryulvH</a></p>— 7Olympics (@7olympics) <a href="https://twitter.com/7olympics/status/1421393677985984512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

GOULDING IS ON THE BOARD

Brian Goorjian has an ace up his sleeve in Chris Goulding.

The legendary coach has given Goulding limited run to this point but he knows that sitting there on his bench is a world-class scorer who can catch fire in an instant.

In each of the first two games Goorjian inserted the Melbourne United star but sat him back down after he missed a couple of looks.

It’s an understandable strategy: give your microwave a chance to heat up, but if it ain’t cooking, switch off the power.

Last night, however, Goulding scored his first bucket of the Games; this much-needed triple on the quarter-time buzzer...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Nobody told Germany to watch the player making the inbound pass.<br><br>CG43 makes them pay at the buzzer ? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7Olympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#7Olympics</a> <a href="https://t.co/85OX0jd40R">pic.twitter.com/85OX0jd40R</a></p>— 7Olympics (@7olympics) <a href="https://twitter.com/7olympics/status/1421390219471900673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The two-time NBL champ got a little more run in the win over Germany – nearly eight minutes in total – but the important thing is that he’s now on the board.

And that Goorjian knows his ace is still there.

KEY MINUTES FROM SOBEY

With starting point guard Mathew Dellavedova struggling a bit, Goorjian turned to Nathan Sobey to play some key minutes in the backcourt.

And boy, did the Brisbane guard respond.

In fact, Sobey had easily his best game of the tournament last night as he provided an impressive punch at both ends of the floor.

In the first half, Sobey sliced his way to the basket for a couple of important finishes and then, in the second half, Goorjian threw him out there in crunch time.

In fact, it was a five-point game with six minutes to play when Sobey came in for Delly and the All-NBL First Team guard played a key role in closing out the game. He worked hard defensively (guarding the dangerous Maodo Lo) and played with great poise offensively, highlighted by this sweet pass that found Landale underneath.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The exclamation point ??<br><br>Sobey with the dime, Landale with the jam ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7Olympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#7Olympics</a> <a href="https://t.co/bI5OfPRfAH">pic.twitter.com/bI5OfPRfAH</a></p>— 7Olympics (@7olympics) <a href="https://twitter.com/7olympics/status/1421408882572791809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

WHO WILL WE PLAY IN THE QUARTER FINALS?

Okay, so now comes the knockout phase of the tournament and, in case you hadn’t heard, there’s a new system in place for this part.

Here’s how it works…

The eight teams who qualify will be divided into two pots with a draw being used to determine quarter final matchups.

Why? So that teams can no longer tank in an effort to manipulate quarter final match-ups. Not that this has ever happened before. (I’m told Goran Dragic is a big fan of this system.)

The first pot (which FIBA is calling ‘Pot D’) will be comprised of the three teams who finished on top of the groups, along with the best second-placed team.

The second pot (‘Pot E’) is made up of the two other second-placed teams, along with the two best third-placed finishes.

You with me? Didn’t think so.

Anyway, it should be noted that there are a couple of extra rules.

They are:

Each game pairing will have one team from Pot D and one team from Pot E (because of course)
Teams from the same original group cannot play each other again in the Quarter Finals (this one’s important!)
The second-placed team that’s in Pot D cannot be drawn against either of the third-placed teams from Pot E (this is the ‘you’re lucky to be in Pot D, Pop, but not that lucky’ rule)

So…. Here are the pots (I love calling these things ‘pots’, by the way. Am I the only one imagining actual clay pots?):

Pot D: France, Australia, the winner of Spain vs Slovenia and USA (who is already locked-in as the best second-placed team)

Pot E: Italy, Germany, the loser of Spain vs Slovenia and the winner of Argentina vs Japan.

Given the Boomers cannot play either of Italy or Germany, their quarter final opponent will be either the loser of Spain vs Slovenia OR the winner of Argentina vs Japan.

We’ll know in a few hours as the draw will take place immediately after the press conference of the Spain/Slovenia game which is tipping off Sunday at 6:20pm AEST.

Please not Luka. Please not Rubio. Please not Luka. Please not Rubio. Please not….