Defence-First Boomers Poised For First Ever Basketball Medal

Defence-First Boomers Poised For First Ever Basketball Medal

The Boomers just need one more win to clinch a men's basketball medal for the very first time.

The Boomers just need one more win to clinch a men's basketball medal for the very first time.

Fun fact: Australia has participated in the most Olympic men's basketball tournaments (13 in total) without winning a medal. Not long from now, the Boomers will play Serbia in the semi-finals of the Rio Olympics. If they win, it will guarantee at least a bronze medal for the Australian basketball team, and more importantly, the first medal Australia will have earned in our Olympic basketball history. 

And for what it's worth, Australia have previously beat Serbia 95-80 in their recent Olympic encounter.

It almost goes without saying that it will be an extremely well-earned reward for the Boomers, if they become the first medal-winning Australian basketball squad. This team has been, in my own hugely-biased Australian opinion, one of the best genuine surprises at this year's edition of the Olympic Games. The Boomers have played insanely well as a team, much greater than the sum of their parts: Australia currently lead the pack in assists, (160 out of a total 199 made field goals were assisted on, giving us the downright incredible metric of an 80% assist rate).

Ranked internationally at the 11th position, the Boomers, in classic underdog fashion, have clinched victories against teams ranked much higher than them in global play on their Olympic journey, smiting France, Serbia and Lithuania with a combination of great team chemistry and dogged defensive effort. Guard Matthew Dellavedova and center Andrew Bogut are no defensive slouches individually, but the entire team has stepped up as a whole.

The Boomers' continued success, in contrast to say, the US squad, has come mostly from their clamp-down defensive style more so than their ability to get buckets in a hurry. Rarely is there an Olympic box score featuring more than one Australian player scoring in double-digits.

In this way, the Boomers kind of resemble the 2004 NBA championship-winning Detroit Pistons; a weird quirk in the NBA championship universe that lacked any real superstars, no real scorers apart from Rip Hamilton, and yet were frustratingly dominant due to their unparalleled defence. Their team motto, famously, was "Let's go to work", which is exactly how the Australian squad is treating the Rio Games. While the US team sends out dick pics on Snapchat and parties on a cruise liner, Andrew Bogut makes his own shower curtain. Hard yakka, baby.

Hypothetically, if Australia pushes past Serbia in our next match up, we could be taking on the Yanks again on Sunday, this time with the gold medal being the ultimate prize. It's hard to even imagine the Aussies winning against a team that very rarely loses to anyone in international basketball, but sticking it to teams with better reputations has so far been our M.O., so...

Why not?

Fun fact: Australia has participated in the most Olympic men's basketball tournaments (13 in total) without winning a medal. Not long from now, the Boomers will play Serbia in the semi-finals of the Rio Olympics. If they win, it will guarantee at least a bronze medal for the Australian basketball team, and more importantly, the first medal Australia will have earned in our Olympic basketball history. 

And for what it's worth, Australia have previously beat Serbia 95-80 in their recent Olympic encounter.

It almost goes without saying that it will be an extremely well-earned reward for the Boomers, if they become the first medal-winning Australian basketball squad. This team has been, in my own hugely-biased Australian opinion, one of the best genuine surprises at this year's edition of the Olympic Games. The Boomers have played insanely well as a team, much greater than the sum of their parts: Australia currently lead the pack in assists, (160 out of a total 199 made field goals were assisted on, giving us the downright incredible metric of an 80% assist rate).

Ranked internationally at the 11th position, the Boomers, in classic underdog fashion, have clinched victories against teams ranked much higher than them in global play on their Olympic journey, smiting France, Serbia and Lithuania with a combination of great team chemistry and dogged defensive effort. Guard Matthew Dellavedova and center Andrew Bogut are no defensive slouches individually, but the entire team has stepped up as a whole.

The Boomers' continued success, in contrast to say, the US squad, has come mostly from their clamp-down defensive style more so than their ability to get buckets in a hurry. Rarely is there an Olympic box score featuring more than one Australian player scoring in double-digits.

In this way, the Boomers kind of resemble the 2004 NBA championship-winning Detroit Pistons; a weird quirk in the NBA championship universe that lacked any real superstars, no real scorers apart from Rip Hamilton, and yet were frustratingly dominant due to their unparalleled defence. Their team motto, famously, was "Let's go to work", which is exactly how the Australian squad is treating the Rio Games. While the US team sends out dick pics on Snapchat and parties on a cruise liner, Andrew Bogut makes his own shower curtain. Hard yakka, baby.

Hypothetically, if Australia pushes past Serbia in our next match up, we could be taking on the Yanks again on Sunday, this time with the gold medal being the ultimate prize. It's hard to even imagine the Aussies winning against a team that very rarely loses to anyone in international basketball, but sticking it to teams with better reputations has so far been our M.O., so...

Why not?

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