It was set up to be a tough encounter for the Aussies, with star point guard Tony Parker from the San Antonio Spurs lining up for France. France never really looked in the game, dominated by an over powering Australia team. Australia took control of the game after half time, taking advantage
of a slim 3 point half time lead. Australia outscored France 25 to 15 in the third quarter before extending their lead in the last period, finishing the game 21 point winners. So, who were the best players? Here are my top five players and how they played in their first Olympic match of 2016.
5) Joe Ingles
These are Joe's second Olympic games and he plays a big role for the Boomers. Joe didn't have his best game against France but he did what he had to do. While only shooting the ball at 33% from the field, Joe finished with four points. However, the stat where he delivered was on the dime dropping end, finishing with six assists and he managed to pull in a pair of rebounds. Defensively, his quick feet allowed him to get two steals. Joe didn't record a block but only turned the ball over once.
4) Mathew Dellevodova
Coming off a championship for Cleveland, Mathew had to adjust for a different type of opposition. The team didn't need to rely on him to score which allowed him to focus on other aspects of his game. He led the team in assists with ten dimes as wells as three rebounds. Dellevedova also played well defensively stealing the ball three times and finished with just the one turnover. I'd like to see Mathew take some more shots, especially three pointers because he is just as good as the other point guard in the team.
3) Aron Baynes
Baynes is so fun to watch and must be a pest to play against. One of his greatest abilities is his offensive rebounding and he showed that against France, smashing the glass for six offensive rebounds, finishing with a total of eight boards for the match. Baynes hit 14 points on 35.7% shooting throughout the match. He also fought his way to the free throw line, making four shots from the charity strike from his six attempts. Aron managed a block but had trouble holding onto the ball on a couple of occasions, losing the ball twice.
2) Patrick Mills
Mills was electric out on the court and works so well with fellow teammate Andrew Bogut. Patty spent nearly 28 minutes out on court, the most of any Australian. He lit it up from the field, shooting at just under 50%, finishing with 21 points. 12 of those 21 points were from beyond the three point line. Mills dished off five assists and pulled in two rebounds over the course of the match. He had a great game, but if Australia are going to get close to the USA basketball team when they meet in a few days time, he will have to try and get his teammates involved even more then he already does.
1) Andrew Bogut
Man of the match in my opinion was Andrew Bogut. Andrew plays centre in the NBA and after starting his career at Golden State, he left this offseason to go to Dallas. However, it seemed that his full attention was on the match against the French as he absolutely dominated in the paint. He hit 18 points, shooting the ball at an incredible 90%, the best by any Australian this match who took more than one shot. He gave off five assists and got under the ring for four rebounds. What makes Andrew such an incredible player is his ability to catch and throw down alley oops. The thing that Bogut must work on for later in the tournament is his ability to crash the boards. As a centre, four rebounds probably isn't good enough but the rest of his game lifted him to my number one position.
Throughout the tournament I will be writing on every Boomers game. Each player in my top five receives a certain number of votes, and at the end of the tournament I will add up the votes to see who is the MVP based on my opinion. The number one ranked player in each game will receive five votes, the number two ranked player will recieve four votes, all the way to the fifth ranked player recieving one vote. So at the moment, Bogut has the most votes followed by Mills, Baynes, Dellevedova and Ingles.
Let me know what you think of the votes. Do you agree? If not, tell me who you think should be receiving which votes and why.
5) Joe Ingles
These are Joe's second Olympic games and he plays a big role for the Boomers. Joe didn't have his best game against France but he did what he had to do. While only shooting the ball at 33% from the field, Joe finished with four points. However, the stat where he delivered was on the dime dropping end, finishing with six assists and he managed to pull in a pair of rebounds. Defensively, his quick feet allowed him to get two steals. Joe didn't record a block but only turned the ball over once.
4) Mathew Dellevodova
Coming off a championship for Cleveland, Mathew had to adjust for a different type of opposition. The team didn't need to rely on him to score which allowed him to focus on other aspects of his game. He led the team in assists with ten dimes as wells as three rebounds. Dellevedova also played well defensively stealing the ball three times and finished with just the one turnover. I'd like to see Mathew take some more shots, especially three pointers because he is just as good as the other point guard in the team.
3) Aron Baynes
Baynes is so fun to watch and must be a pest to play against. One of his greatest abilities is his offensive rebounding and he showed that against France, smashing the glass for six offensive rebounds, finishing with a total of eight boards for the match. Baynes hit 14 points on 35.7% shooting throughout the match. He also fought his way to the free throw line, making four shots from the charity strike from his six attempts. Aron managed a block but had trouble holding onto the ball on a couple of occasions, losing the ball twice.
2) Patrick Mills
Mills was electric out on the court and works so well with fellow teammate Andrew Bogut. Patty spent nearly 28 minutes out on court, the most of any Australian. He lit it up from the field, shooting at just under 50%, finishing with 21 points. 12 of those 21 points were from beyond the three point line. Mills dished off five assists and pulled in two rebounds over the course of the match. He had a great game, but if Australia are going to get close to the USA basketball team when they meet in a few days time, he will have to try and get his teammates involved even more then he already does.
1) Andrew Bogut
Man of the match in my opinion was Andrew Bogut. Andrew plays centre in the NBA and after starting his career at Golden State, he left this offseason to go to Dallas. However, it seemed that his full attention was on the match against the French as he absolutely dominated in the paint. He hit 18 points, shooting the ball at an incredible 90%, the best by any Australian this match who took more than one shot. He gave off five assists and got under the ring for four rebounds. What makes Andrew such an incredible player is his ability to catch and throw down alley oops. The thing that Bogut must work on for later in the tournament is his ability to crash the boards. As a centre, four rebounds probably isn't good enough but the rest of his game lifted him to my number one position.
Throughout the tournament I will be writing on every Boomers game. Each player in my top five receives a certain number of votes, and at the end of the tournament I will add up the votes to see who is the MVP based on my opinion. The number one ranked player in each game will receive five votes, the number two ranked player will recieve four votes, all the way to the fifth ranked player recieving one vote. So at the moment, Bogut has the most votes followed by Mills, Baynes, Dellevedova and Ingles.
Let me know what you think of the votes. Do you agree? If not, tell me who you think should be receiving which votes and why.
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