Boomers impress in Tokyo opener v Nigeria

It took the Australian Boomers some time to warm up but they delivered an impressive second half to open their campaign at the Tokyo Olympic Games with an 84-67 win against Nigeria.

The Boomers hit the floor for the first time at Tokyo's Saitama Super Arena where they hope to make history over the next two weeks and it ended up being a solid enough first up showing on Sunday evening against a dangerous Nigerian outfit.

Both teams struggled to find their groove in the first half combining for 24 turnovers by the half-time break with Australia narrowly leading 43-40 on the back of 11 points from Patty Mills while Obi Emegano hit three triples for the D'Tigers for 11 points.

But the Boomers opened the second half with three balls to Mills and new Melbourne United signing Matthew Dellavedova, and gradually found their groove and pulled away further from there.

The defence of Australia deserves a lot of the credit for forcing Nigeria into 24 turnovers from which they scored 26 points. The offence then got into a groove in the second half too with the Boomers hitting a terrific 11/24 at 46 per cent from three.

Australia took their chances at the foul line better too hitting 17/19 while Nigeria struggled with 12/24.

There was a lot to like from the first up Boomers showing and it was flag bearer, and four-time Olympian Patty Mills again the offensive star with 25 points and six assists on the back of going 5/8 from three-point territory.

Dual NBL champion with the Perth Wildcats Nick Kay was impressive too with his work inside for 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists while seeing Dante Exum healthy enough to showcase his abilities was exciting in his 11 points, five boards and three assists.

Utah Jazz veteran Joe Ingles was steady with 11 points, four rebounds and three assists with Matthew Dellavedova impressive as well in 16 minutes for eight points, three boards and three assists including knocking down two three-pointers.

Philadelphia 76ers guard Matisse Thybulle was a pest to Nigeria defensively with five steals while throwing down a couple of dunks for seven points and four rebounds too.

Aron Baynes added four points and five rebounds, reigning NBL Grand Final MVP Jock Landale four points and three boards, and new Illawarra Hawks signing Duop Reath two points.

Obi Emegano top-scored for Nigeria with 12 points with Josh Okogie adding 11, Precious Achiuwa 10 and Jordan Nwora 10.

Nigeria did score the opening four points of the contest but the Boomers responded with a triple to Joe Ingles and scores to Patty Mills and Aron Baynes to soon be up 7-4.

The runs continued, though, with the D'Tigers hitting the next five points before the Boomers then went on an impressive 12-3 run with two more triples from Mills to lead 19-12.

However, turnovers took over the Boomers play the rest of the first term and Nigeria finished with an 11-4 run with scores tied at 23-apiece by quarter-time.

Nigeria then opened up a four-point edge early in the second term but Australia responded firstly with a three-pointer from Matthew Dellavedova. An 8-0 run including another Ingles three helped the Boomers go up five and still lead 43-40 at the half.

Australia then nabbed the momentum to start the second half with three balls from Mills and Dellavedova. Scores to Nick Kay and Jock Landale soon after helped Australia out to an 11-point lead with Nigeria going more than five minutes without a field goal in the half.

But the D'Tigers did get on a bit of a roll to be within six by three quarter-time.

It didn’t take long for the Boomers to put the game to bed to start the fourth quarter with a pair of long bombs from Mills and another to Matisse Thybulle who was creating havoc with his defence up the other end.

The Boomers had some fun down the stretch including a dunk to Thybulle and a neat finish from Kay on a feed from Ingles to end up winning by 17 to open their Olympic campaign.

The Boomers are next in action on Wednesday evening against Italy before the Group Phase ends with them taking on Germany on Saturday.

TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES BASKETBALL
GROUP PHASE – GROUP B

AUSTRALIAN BOOMERS 84 (Mills 25, Kay 12, Ingles 11, Exum 11)

NIGERIA D'TIGERS 67 (Emegano 12, Okogie 11, Nwora 10, Achiuwa 10) 

BOX SCORE