The Italian side wasn’t going to be an easy task for the Boomers, but the Australians had expected to be stronger out of the gate and dominate early, however it was a slow start and the Boomers had to earn every moment.

Team Captain Patty Mills was brilliant again at the Saitama Arena, landing a three and was active all over the court, creating scoring chances for the Boomers. But the upbeat Italian team seemed to rush the Boomers early and they couldn’t quite get into their groove.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long before Joe Ingles and Aron Baynes made their presence known, sinking a couple of 3-point shots and a few flashy dunks, helping the Boomers to 25-a-piece at the first break.

"I thought we played a much better game of basketball offensively. We moved the ball better, less turnovers, got better shots.” coach Brian Goorjian said afterwards.  

"And I think tonight, the second half, as in last game against Nigeria, the defence was the determining factor. We just really locked them down in the fourth quarter and defended well." 

But the Europeans, who beat Germany by 10 in their first game, kept posting points on the board, not giving the Boomers any space and stretched their lead out to six in the second quarter. However, the Australians fought back thanks to the combined efforts of Ingles, Nick Kay and Jock Landale, managing to close the gap to being one point down, 44-45, at half-time.     

With 10 twos from 18 attempts and 6 from 15 outside the shooting stats at half-time, the Boomers needed to come out strong in the second half. A team up of Mills and Landale in the third quarter finally helped the team find some rhythm, pushing an Australian lead out to six points, Baynes maintaining his good form.

Polonara, with 12 points, was having a good night for the Italians as was Mannion who scored 21 in total, keeping the Italians in the game, but the Boomers were quick to match their efforts and took a 65-62 point lead into the final break.

Defence was again a highlight for the Australians, Matisse Thybulle showing how good he could be with or without the ball, helping minimise the Italians scoring changes while Ingles shot another huge 3-point basket. The Boomers had 80 Italy 73 with two-and-a-half on the clock, but the Italians kept scoring, closing the margin to 3 points with seconds left.

But the Boomers held strong, Australia securing the win 86-83 to keep themselves in prime position with Germany their next task to finish the pool, the Matildas in the crowd cheering them on.

Ingles said, “We are pleased to get home over Italy but we aren’t getting ahead ourselves. We are just happy to be two from two against two tough teams. 

“There are parts of both attack and defence that need fine tuning if we are going to push it at medal time.”

"That performance tonight in balance is where we're going to need to go.” Goorjian added.

“At the end of the games like tonight, the ball will be in Patty's hand when it’s time to decide the game at the finish."

Tim Gilbert