Having suffered a difficult loss to the USA in their semi-final, the Boomers have been quick to regroup and focus on their bronze medal game at the Saitama Super Arena.  

With the same win-loss record as the Australians, Slovenia won’t be an easy task for the Boomers. Coach Brian Goorjian explaining they would prepare for this game with the same intensity and detail as they had when preparing for the USA.  

“It’s a real important time right now.” Goorjian said.   

“How we handle not getting what we came here to do, but there is still a medal to play for and it’s something that, you know if you look at history, the Boomers have done things well over time, but they haven’t handled this situation well.  

“This will be the sixth time they have had the opportunity to bring home a medal and we haven’t got this game done. So there has been something flawed to this point and it’s up to the players and the staff to understand and be fully aware of the importance of this game and the prospect of what we can bring back to the country. 

“It’s something that has never been done before, we can be the best team in basketball Olympic History for Australia so we want to get that message through loud and clear and also it’s very important the formular of how we do it. That’s a process of the game plan.”  

When addressing the game plan and how they tackle Slovenia, the Boomers will need to ensure they don’t make little mistakes and stick to the defensive and dominate style of play that saw them go undefeated through the pool stage and hand Argentina a commanding defeat. These details are what coach Goorjian said are most important.  

“They are the best outside of ourselves, when you look at Slovenia, between them and France is was a one-point game and it’s a similar challenge between them and Team USA.” Goorjian added.  

“You are playing against the best players in the tournament, instead of Kevin Durant it’s Luca (Doncic).  

“I don’t think we handled the Durant situation well, it caused us problems when we had a chance to really put our stamp on the game, we didn’t handle him, and tomorrow I think that the challenge is how we defend Luca and slow him down.  

“That’s going to be the challenge and not just scoring, it’s everything.  Doncic gets the other players involved, they play off his emotion and he’s also got the ability to score the ball so the game plan is going to be about getting ahead of him.” 

The Australian Boomers take on Slovenia in the bronze medal match at 9pm AEST on Saturday 7 August. Watch LIVE on Seven and 7Plus.com.au.   

Shannon Knaus

#HaveAGo at Basketball