The Australian men's basketball team opened the London International Basketball Invitational with a convincing 71-43 thrashing of China on Tuesday to continue their tune-up before the 2012 London Olympics.
Playing in the first ever game of international basketball held in the newly built London Basketball Arena in Olympic Park, the Boomers were well served by Townsville Crocodiles forward Peter Crawford who top-scored with 15 points.
David Barlow added 14 points for Australia, while AJ Ogilvy finished with 11.
Despite fielding one of the more competitive teams that China has put on the floor in some time, which included Washington Wizards NBA power forward Yi Jianlian, Australia were always in control.
The Chinese side seemed out of sorts early as the Boomers set about breaking out to an early lead, which the stretched to 32-19 at the half.
The second half saw more of the same action, with Australia continuing to attack before running away with the 28-point win, while also outrebounding the tall Chinese team 43-26.
And they did it without having to call on star playmaker Patty Mills who, like team-mates Joe Ingles, Aleks Maric and Brad Newley, took no part in the game.
"I'm trying to avoid playing our key players in three consecutive games," Boomers head coach Brett Brown explained.
"I'm trying to have those guys peak both on the court and physically in the build-up to September 7 and the New Zealand series, so it's a little bit of a trick trying to balance that out with seven games in 11 days.
"I thought that it was as good an effort defensively that we've played. The guards were excellent, particularly on the rebounding."
The Boomers will face a much sterner test tomorrow when they face France, one of the tournament heavyweights, who boast NBA stars Joakim Noah, Tony Parker and Nicholas Batum.
Coach Brown said he would rest Mark Worthington and the impressive Damian Martin, who picked up a team-high six assists and seven rebounds against China, for the clash.
Brown said the biggest issue would be keeping the team in top shape despite the heavy workload in London, in preparation for the FIBA Oceania Championship against New Zealand which tips off in Melbourne on September 7 and could see them qualify for the London games.
"That's probably going to be the greatest mission over the next nine days: just making sure we build towards September 7," he continued.
"We have to be smart with it and you cant take your eye off the ball.
"You want to win games and you can't fall into that trap of being complacent. It's a long process and we've got to be smart, and in doing that, you simply can't overlook that physical side."
AAP
Tags: basketball, sport, england, china, australia First posted August 17, 2011 06:26:17
No comments:
Post a Comment