Australia’s Boomers have kicked off their Rio 2016 medal campaign with a bang, defeating France 87-66 in what many are calling a stunning upset over a team boasting five NBA players.
Andrew Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova, Patty Mills and Aron Baynes, all of them NBA championship ring winners, came together in what Bogut called “a testament to team culture.”
While celebrating the win, Bogut told journalists:
“We have a lot of different guys who have played all over the world and we know our roles, we know who were are. I don’t think we have guys in these team that need 20 shots a game or think ‘I’m the man on my (club) team, I need to be the man over here’. That’s when you get in trouble with national teams. If you don’’ have that, you have guys that buy in around a group, you get performances like tonight.”
Dellavedova praised Bogut’s efforts to return from injury, saying:
“He is looking good. He’s done a whole lot of work behind the scenes just to get himself a chance of playing and credit to him for putting in all that work. He changes the whole dynamic, we’re happy to have him back.”
Assistant Boomers coach Luc Longley noted the team’s poise, saying that “while it’s not really an experienced group, [there are] lots of experienced guys.”
Australia are set for their next clash, against Serbia, on Tuesday.
Source: Fox Sports.
Photo: Elsa / Getty.
