Australian Mens Basketball at the 2008 Beijing olympics - so far, not good!

For many athletes, the Olympics present the pinnacle of their sport. Winning a medal in swimming, athletics, archery, equestrian, hockey etc signifies that you have reached the pinnacle of the sport. Personally I enjoy the hockey and basketball the most (I have also been intrigued by handball but that is something to discuss later).

Australia is a dominant force in world hockey and both the men’s and women’s team are expected to do well. In basketball, I expect the women to face the USA for gold in what will be a tough and tight match (and I am not talking about the Oplas bodysuits).

Even with the sporadic coverage for team sports on Channel 7, I have been lucky enough to catch a few matches involving the Australia teams and the Amerian men’s team.

However the play of the Boomers has left me disappointed. Looking at the team sheet and seeing names such as Andrew Bogut, David Anderson, Matthew Nielsen, Brad Newley – players who are in the NBA, been drafted by NBA teams or playing for top teams in Europe, I felt the team would do well.

Sadly, in their first two matches against Croatia and Argentina, the team has found itself in double digit deficits too quickly. This makes winning a game tough for anyone. You have to expand a lot of energy trying to get back in the game, energy that would be needed at the end of a close game.

What seems to be ailing the Boomers are the lack of scoring, and their inability to stop opponents scoring. In both matches, Croatia and Argentina got early outside shots to fall which put added pressure on the Aussie shooters to make their shots. When this did not happened, the oppositions lead grew and the Australian players confidence dwindled.

However, I get this feeling that there is no intensity by the Aussies. They do not seem to be pressuring the ball carrier intensively, and making the other four players work hard to get into open space. The Australian defence looks stagnant and a step slower which has lead to easy shots for their opponents.

Also when an opponent gets into the key, they seem to get to the basket area for a shot or assist, too easily. Remember, most coaches say – Defence wins!!

What is most disappointing is that Brian Goorjigan has always been a defensive minded coach and this team is disappointing. I am not blaming him directly because I think he is an excellent coach. I am just starting to question the “fire” within the Australian players. I know they all love to play for the Green and Gold, but they do not seem to be playing for each other and as a team.

On offence, it seems we are looking a bit confused and unsure. Maybe it was due to the various injuries before the games that robbed the likes of Andrew Bogut time to gel with his team mates.

But yesterday we seem to get on track my thumping Iran by 50 odd points. This is a good result as it indicates our offence has stepped up. But the tests are coming. To make the final 8, we need to beat Russia (who were the European champions) and/or an undefeated Lithuania. Talk about tough asks.

Before the games started, I thought we probably had our best team since the 1996/2000 Olympics. We had a great coach, an NBA centre, European All-Star players and a few up and coming guards.

Given the standard of play, the dominance and style of the USA team, and the number of NBA players playing for other countries, the Olympic Basketball tournament is an event to watch. I just hope Australia remains a part of it!