2008 Olympics Basketball Tournament

[Andrew]

Turkey stood up to the US fairly well in the first quarter but once again the US took care of business the rest of the way. Hopefully the Boomers game will be a bit more competitive.

[Fresh8]

Bogut had 32 points and CJ Bruton scored a three pointer to win the game 82-79 against Angola. Coach Goorijan was very happy with Bogut's performance. And predicted many more 'big games' to come!

[CMJ3]

Aussies will surely get a wake up call when they play the USA, if they can sustain a reasonable score then i think they can get a lot out of it.

[Andrew]

Bogut had 32 points and CJ Bruton scored a three pointer to win the game 82-79 against Angola. Coach Goorijan was very happy with Bogut's performance. And predicted many more 'big games' to come!

Are any of the Boomers' warmup games being televised, aside from the one against the USA next week?

[Fresh8]

Not that I know of. Thank god Channel 7 will show all ofd the Boomers' games! It's gonna be Australia v Croatia (i think)/ USA v China double header next Saturday night! It starts at about 9-10 pm, I think... USA game should be played 12 pm Aussie time. I will be staying up to watch it.

CMJ, I think Aussies can hold their own and be the ones surprising the Americans!

As for anyone with doubts, apparantly Angola have improved a lot. Perhaps someone can tell me if this is true! If they can stay close with the Boomers for the whole game; perhaps it is true. But without having seen the game, I can't comment again.

Andrew, where is USA-Aus warmup game being broadcast? On Pay TV?

[Andrew]

Yeah it's on ESPN. Good news about Channel 7 showing Boomers games though, they didn't show much of the tournament in Athens.

[The X]

Angola is a good team....as is Nigeria....I wouldn't be surprised if they beat China & make a run for that number 4 seed in their group....

hmm....might have to watch the Australia v Croatia game....I consider it a must win game for both teams....the loser has a tough road & will have to beat a team like Lithuania, Russia or Spain....won't worry about watching a scrub game like China-USA....as for the Boomers, I wonder if Bogut will step up against his countrymen (the Croats that is)....

[Fresh8]

Good news about Channel 7 showing Boomers games though, they didn't show much of the tournament in Athens.

I think they did show games but they were at random times due to time zones. However, wouldn't be surprised that they prioritised what they showed because of the time zones. This time round though, Channel 7 and SBS will show a fair dose of basketball action. If I have time, I will post the times of the games being shown courtesy of my TV guide in Alpha.

[Andrew]

True, the timezones didn't help.

Another fun exhibition game by the US, Lithuania game close a couple of times after the US raced out to an early lead but it ended the same way as the past two games with a convincing victory for the Americans. That alley-oop to Wade for the windmill was definitely the play of the game.

[Sacke12]

I think the four teams going into the semifinals will be USA, Greece, Spain and Argentina. Depending on the result from the preliminary rounds, I think the Gold Medal Game will be between USA and Spain, with the Americans taking home the gold.

[Fresh8]

As far as I know, these are the games being shown!

Sunday 10 August

11 AM - 12:45 PM: Russia v Iran (SBS)
AFTER 8:30 PM: Australia v Croatia, USA v China Double-header (Channel 7)*

Tuesday 12 August

11 AM - 12:45 PM: Iran v Lithuania (SBS)
8:45 PM - 9:45 PM: China v Spain (SBS)
12 AM (Wednesday): Australia v Argentina (Channel 7)

Thursday 14 August

11 AM - 12:45 AM: Spain v Qualifier (SBS)
2 PM: Australia v Iran (Channel 7)
7:30 PM - 8:30 PM: Lithuania v Russia (SBS)
AFTER 10:30 PM: Men's Prelim (Channel 7)**

Saturday 16 August

1:30 PM: Australia v Russia (Channel 7)
4:30 PM - 6:15 PM: Lithuania v Qualifier (SBS)
After 9 PM: Men's Prelim (Channel 7)**

Monday 18 August

11 AM - 12:45 PM: Iran v Croatia (SBS)
Between 12 PM and 7 PM: Australia v Lithuania (Channel 7)

Wednesday 20 August

Between 11 AM and 9 PM: Quarter-Final (Channel 7)
4:30 PM - 6:15 PM: Quarter-Final (SBS)
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM: Quarter-Final (SBS)
After 9 PM: Quarter-Final (Channel 7)

Friday 22 August

After 9PM: Semi-Finals (Channel 7)***

Sunday 24 August

4:30 PM: Bronze and Gold Medal Matches

* Australia v Croatia will probably be at 10 pm while USA v China will show afterwards. Just a guess!
** These timeslots could be for Team USA games!
*** Like Sydney 2000, if I remember correctly, both Semis should be shown!

Hope this is off good use to everyone! Channel 7 should show full Boomers games while SBS will show perhaps second halves of games. Expect some coverage of Team USA too!

[Andrew]

Thanks for the update, looks like a decent amount of coverage. I don't think there's much on Foxtel if any, aside from these warmup games.

[[Q]]

man I just looked at Spain's roster and i gotta say they are pretty stacked. Argentina & Spain will battle it out for the right to face the US in the gold medal game.

[Fresh8]

Spain looks really fun to watch. You got Pau, Jorge Garbajosa, Felipe Reyes, and Marc Gasol in the frontcourt. But watch out for the backcourt. As I said, Calderon and Navarro starting with Rudy Fernandez and Ricky Rubio backing them up. That's a crazy backcourt rotation.

[ize]

the US & Spain seems to be the toughest teams, but getting out from the group stage, any surprise can happen!! btw I bet for the US but hope that Spain will win

[Andrew]

Well, Australia may have lost but it was still probably the best game a Boomers squad has ever played against a Team USA outfit and without Bogut to boot. It was also the lowest margin of victory and lowest single game point total for the US in these warmup games. All in all, not too shabby.

[Fresh8]

Andrew, I believe you watched the game.

How poorly was Team USA playing? And how much of that would you attribute to the Boomers?

[Andrew]

They were really struggling to knock down shots in the first quarter so they got off to a slow start offensively. I'd attribute some of that to the Boomers because they were playing them pretty well but once Kobe and LeBron started knocking down the shots you'd expect them to and Wade got into the passing lanes a couple of times the tide turned pretty quickly. That said, the Boomers made a couple of runs and did a very respectable job all around.

[[Q]]

Australia was playing very well, especially when USA wasn't pressuring the ball. Had they turned over the ball a little less, the Aussies would've made it a close game.

[Andrew]

Agreed, they weren't doing a bad job of that through the first 15 minutes or so but then they got a bit slopping, the US started swarming the passing lanes and just took over.

[cro_2pac]

Australia can't beat Croatia WE ARE TO GOOD FOR THE AUSSIES as mather of fact you're best player is A CROAT! Andrija Bogut! USA, Croatia, Russia(SSSR), Yugoslavia(Serbia) and Lithuania teach rest of the world how to play Basketball! Here is a vid (no offense to other nations the best team will win AUS-CRO)and US will win the gold, Croatia is a team that has quality to beat GREECE!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBLBbDNJXK0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVmory1x ... re=related

[Andrew]

Who said anything about Australia beating Croatia? Also, Andrew Bogut is an Australian with Croatian heritage, unless Victoria has recently been annexed by Croatia.

[shadowgrin]

Your puny pseudo-continent of Australia is already owned by the might of Croatia! Bow down Aussie fools!

As expected, an NLSC user having anything 2pac related is retarded.


I hope to see in Olympic action the hype known as Ricky Rubio.

[cro_2pac]

C' mon I didn't want to hurt somebody with may statement.

[cro_2pac]

We CRUSHED Australia!!!!!!!!!!! MY tv nearly exploded from our threes!

Australia Croatia
24/40 (60%) 2-POINTERS 24/38 (63%)
6/19 (32%) 3-POINTERS 12/16 (75%)
16/24 (67%) FREE THROWS 13/19 (68%)
20 FOULS 23
10 STEALS 4
13 TURNOVERS 17
9 OFF. REBOUNDS 6
13 DEF. REBOUNDS 21
3 BIGGEST LEAD 29
8 BIGGEST RUN 7

WOW!