MANILA OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS FRANCE ARE BADLY BEATEN BY AUSTRALIA IN THEIR OPENING GAME AT THE RIO OLYMPICS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 07 Aug 2016
A terrific third quarter performance by Australia, nicknamed ?The Boomers?, swamped the winner of the Manila Olympic Qualification tournament France 87-66 on the opening day of the Rio Olympics basketball tournament.
Pat Mills who play for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association led Australia with 21 points while FIBA reported that Aron Banes provided a huge presence under the basket for most of the contest but it was the Golden State Warriors big man Andrew Bogut who has battled back from a knee injury suffered in the playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals who provided the telling blows in what FIBA described as ?a complete performance.?
Bogut finished with 18 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.
FIBA said that after building a big lead, Australia saw San Antonio Spurs backcourt stalwart Tony Partker bring France bck into the contest with 16 first half points to bring France to within three, 36-33 at the half. But Andrej Lemanis' team landed telling blows to start the second half with a another NBA star Matthew Dellavedova alley-oop pass for a Bogut dunk triggering a 12-2 Aussie run who held a comfortable lead the rest of the way.
The Boomers had 29 assists on 35 made field goals, showing their willingness to share the ball and only settle for the best available shots. Dellavedova led the way with 10 dimes, Joe Ingles had 6, while Mills and Bogut had 5 each.
Bogut was the game hero, playing in his first game at an Olympics since 2008. He showed no signs of being troubled by his knee or having any rust to shake off as he hit on 9-of-10 shot attempts.
The setback sends France back to the drawing board for a team who turned the ball over 17 times. The Boomers will take a huge amount of confidence from this convincing win and look to stick to this winning formula in their clash against Serbia also on Monday.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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