Brisbane Bullets vs New Zealand Breakers Blitz 22

Bullets vs Breakers NBL Blitz 18/09/22

It was exciting to see Aron Baynes and Tyler Johnson here from the NBA, suiting up for the first time on the Bullets roster, and to see if Brisbane could keep their impressive play style going from the early preseason games. Prior to the Blitz Brisbane dominated Melbourne United with consistent ball movement and a flowing offence. Bringing in the stars could have been a struggle to continue with that style. Sobey was also back but was on a large minutes restriction along with Aron Baynes.

New Zealand were without their starting point guard William McDowell White, so they would definitely be at a disadvantage and hard to get a true read on them as a team. Rayan Rupert will always be worth the entry ticket though. I'm sure we will be watching him in the NBA next year, so enjoy it while you can.

1st Qtr:

Akoldah Gak got the scoring started with a tip in rebound and Brisbane were on the board early. 

Aron Baynes quickly pulled down his first rebound and he is looking strong to start the season. As athletic as ever judging from this early look. 

The Breakers opened their scoring account with a Barry Brown drive and got fouled by Gak completing the 3 point play. 

Early on you can see Baynes absolutely shutting down the paint on defence. The breakers don't want a look in. He is a big body and takes up so much of the area inside. He got an early bucket off an under the basket drop shot and finished the and 1. He looks happy to be playing professionally again!

Tyler Johnson and Baynes both missed a couple of open corner 3's but as we have seen a lot of people are struggling on these "Tight" rims. Maybe Baynes can loosen them up with some big dunks through the tournament. 

Already you could see Brisbane are trying to keep the flowing offence in this new look team as Devondrick Walker dishes to Baynes, then to Gak for an easy floater and it all looks too easy for Brisbane. 

I really like Devondrick walker on this Brisbane roster. It has been said that he may be a temporary feature for the team, and will face plenty of scrutiny playing beside players like Sobey, Johnson and Baynes, but I feel like he fits in well with the ball movement offence that the Bullets are implementing and that can be hard to find in an import willing to play in a system like that. It is refreshing to watch after the Patterson black hole in previous season where the ball may go through the basket eventually but it stopped moving as well. 

Tom Vadonovich got New Zealand going with a couple of bomb 3's getting the lead for the Breakers. 13-14 with 4:11 left in the quarter. 

New Zealands french phenom Rayan Rupert makes his presence and skill known in the first quarter with a steal off Sobey and Dunk for New Zealand extending the lead 13-19. 

Sobey then made a couple of strong drives but certainly still looks to be nursing that injury. New Zealand hit a couple of 3's and blow the lead out to 10, 16-26 with 40 seconds left in the 1st. 

Harry Froling got to the line to keep the bullets in it, but some smooth moves from Rupert leads to a Rob Lowe dunk to close out the quarter. 18-28. Rupert has a very smooth skillset for an 18yr old. 

2nd Qtr:

Jason Cadee got a nice layup from some good ball movement to open the quarter. While on the other end Rob Lowe has a huge tip jam to get the scoring going for the Breakers.

 

Baynes got a nice mini hook to get his scoring going in the quarter and then got another inside bucket after a missed 3 attempt. He as such a post presence. He is just so big!

 

On the defensive end, Baynes is everywhere! As the commentator said "he is a walking wall"

Sobey continued to attack the rim after a couple of missed 3 attempts and gets to the hole on multiple times also getting to the charity stripe. On limited minutes he is making an impact attacking the basket. Since it looks like no one can hit on these rims!

Tyler Johnson starts attacking the paint and finished a nice mini hook bringing the score 32-33 with 3:26 left in the half. 

DJ Mitchel got a huge dunk from a Harry Froling post up and dish on the inside, bringing the lead back for Brisbane.

 It looks like the teams that attack the rims in this tournament will be successful as the rims are so tight, no one can hit a 3! Tyler Johnson must have noticed as he continued to attack the rim with a strong move here to the basket for the and one play.

Izaya Li'afa had a nice pass to Rob Lowe to get the Breakers offence back on. 

But a Froling post play for Brisbane closed the quarter holding a good lead 43-37. 

3rd Qtr:

Baynes started early in the half with a lefty hook to open Brisbane's account, and drops the too little smack talk on the defence. He certainly was having fun out there. 

Jarrell Brantley got scoring started for the Breakers in the half with an offensive board and tip in. 

Devondrik Walker made a nice move off a Baynes back screen and got an easy layup from a Jason Cadee assist. He moves well without the ball as well. 

Cadee then had an insane dime on transition to DJ Mitchell for the layup and the score started blowing out 50-39 with 6:00 left in the quarter. 

Baynes then hit a 3 pointer extending the lead. 

Jason Caddee got a transition layup off a New Zealand free throw and it couldn't be more evident they have to work on their transition D. 

Rayan Rupert made a good 3 to keep New Zealand alive but it looks like he will have to work on increasing his speed on the shot to raise his draft stock. He certainly has all the other tools!

Vodanovich hit a 3 Bomb and the Breakers were ready to mount a come back down 57-51, but a strong Drive by Gak and its still an 8 point game. 

 

Tyler Johnson then had a very smooth drive to close out the quarter Brisbane holding the lead 62-53. 

 

4th Qtr:

Jarell Brantley had a strong post play to open the quarter for NZ but on the other side Tyler Johnson had a smooth cut and tough finish to get the and 1 lay up off a nice pass from Gak, who is putting together a good all round game for the Bullets. 

 

New Zealands transition defence continued to be hopeless and the bullets blow the lead out and run away with the win. With 5 min left in the 4th quarter it was 74-57 and the coaches clear out the benches.

Brisbane get the W 81-69

Brisbane:

Aron Baynes 14 points, 6 Rebounds (14 minutes)

Tyler Johnson 14 points

Breakers: 

Jarell Brantley 10 Points

Tom Vodanovich 15 points, 5 rebounds

Brisbane continued to move the ball well. Their first couple of preseason games had the ball moving and they continued it all game in this big win. Its a beautiful brand of basketball they are playing at the moment and hopefully they can continue to play like this throughout the season. 

Just fun to watch!

USA defeat Australia 86-119

Team USA has defeated Australia by 33 points at the Olympic Quarter finals today. Australia were coming out of a win over Russia in the preliminary rounds only to face team U.S.A at the Quarter finals. The Boomers played well for 3 of the 4 quarters, not letting team U.S.A get to far out in front. The last quarter was where the Boomers fell and team U.S.A just surged ahead.

The first half saw a nervous Boomers squad miss many open opportunities, missing free throws and lay ups; but they still held a respectable 21-28 first quarter. The second quarter was very similar to the first with the U.S.A getting up by a further 7 points to take the lead to 14 going into the second half.
Starting the second half was some impressive play from Patty Mills who scores a 3 pointer and then makes a steal on the to finish a lay up within 25 seconds of the half beginning. The Boomers picked up their game and managed to get it back to 6 points, but some excellent 3 point shooting from team U.S.A; which saw that lead stretch back up to 12. The Boomers held on through the third quarter and it looked like they might win a quarter, but they managed to finish it 28-28 with team U.S.A still holding onto a 14 point lead 84-70. Through the game the ref's did a good job, but for many plays they were initimidated by the reputations of the U.S.A players and gave them several advantages in calls. As Newly stated to the ref, "He yells every time I touch him" (talking about Lebron James to the ref). Andrew Gaze on commentating tried to stay diplomatic, stating
"The players have lost confidence in the ref's ability not to be intimidated by the reputations of Team U.S.A. Not that I'm saying that the call was incorrect."

The final quarter saw the Boomers fall apart and team U.S.A capitalize. From 12 down Kobe Bryant hit his hot streak and sunk three 3 pointers in a row without any points made from the Boomers. From there it was all downhill. James Hardin made some huge alley oops and dunks. Every play became a show for team U.S.A displaying their incredible skill to finish the game up by 33 points, at 86-119. I was surprised that Brett Brown did not give the bench players a run in the dying minutes just to get to play against the best in the world. Adam Gibson and Peter Crawford were the only two players not to get any minutes on the court. Patty Mills was the top scorer for the night finishing with 26 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists followed by Kobe Bryant who finished with 20 points. Kobe had a slow start to the game going 0 from 4 but was on fire later in the game. Joe Ingles played the full 40 minutes and was probably our best player for the game finishing with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Lebron James had a triple double with 11 points 14 rebounds and 12 assists. Aaron Baynes had a highlight in the dying seconds of the game, with a huge block on Anthony Davis to close out the game. Matthew Dellevadova played well for the majority of the game, but gave up a couple of turnovers in the last quarter. He is a strong point guard and the team looked better when he was playing the point and Patty was in the no. 2 spot.

It was a good game that should have been closer for how the Boomers played for the majority, but they were out classed in the final quarter. It was unfortunate we did so poorly in the preliminary rounds. If Australia had won one of those losses we would not have faced America so early and could have faced an easier team in the quarters finals. After Russia was defeated by the Boomers, they defeated Lithuania 83-74 and are now set to play Spain in the semis for a shot at the final.

Australia loses to Brazil 75-71

In a game that ended up going down to the wire Brazil came up triumphant 71-75. Channel 9 did a terrible job on the broadcast as usual but at least showed the last quarter which unfortunately was all I got a chance to catch. Brazil took control in the third quarter of the game after a close first two halves the had an early 10 point lead. Australia's 3 point shooting was woeful in those first 3 quarters but managed to hit a few in the fourth, combined with some fast transition plays got us back to a manageable figure. Some big shots and plays from Anderson continued the trend till we were down by 2 with 28 seconds left on the Clock. From here some good defence held Brazil from scoring till a foot fault from Australia restarted the Shot clock to 14 second with 9 seconds left in the game. On the inbound pass Patty Mills nearly made a miracle interception but missed and had to foul the Brazil player who made both shots to finish the game 71-75. It was good effort to get back into game and took it to the wire but just fell short. I was surprised they did not play Peter Crawford he would be their best three point shooter and when they needed some big shots to go in Brett Brown didn't give him the nod. I Was dissapointed in his coaching their, the boomers really looked liked they needed an offensive presence that could drain the long ball. Their were some questionable technical foul calls through the game but it was a good close game that in the end could have gone either way and was a great effort from the Boomers who were playing a strong Brazil line up with a couple of NBA players.

Brazil
Barbosa 16pts, 4 rebounds
Huertas 15pts, 4 rebounds
Varejao 12pts, 7 rebounds
Nene 10 points, 7 rebounds
Splitter 7 pts, 7 rebounds

Australia
Mills 18pts, 7 rebounds
Ingles 15pts, 3 rebounds
Andersen 14pts, 8 rebounds
Baynes 10pts, 5 rebounds
Dellavedova 6pts, 3 rebounds

Australia defeats China 3-0 in the YouYi games

Australia defeated china 3-0 in the friendly Olympic warm up YuYi games. The games were played last saturday 9th of june, Monday the 11th and wednesday the 13th with Australia taking out each game. I was only able to watch game 1 so far with game 2 not televised and game 3 having a delayed telecast on saturday on channel 9 at 2:00PM. Game 1 was close with the boomers shooting abismally at 27% at half time. And the score line showed it going down by 10 in the third. But they showed that they can shoot and took out the victory by 11 at full time 55-66. This was largely due to the impressive shooting display of Peter Crawford in the last half finishing the game with 21. Mark Worthington played good hard basketball throughout his time on the court and if it wasnt for his poor shooting would have been the best player on the court finishing with 11. I hope people who doubted his effectiveness on the Boomers squad now see his skill and effectiveness. China played some impressive zone defence that seemd to stifle the Boomers who could not get access to an inside shot.

Game 2 was not televised so I did not get to see the game. Australia won 69-65 in a closer game with top scorer Aron Baynes 15 follwed by Mathew Dellevadova and Mark Worthington with 11. The game high scorer was Sun Yue from China with 22 followed by Wang Shipeng finished with 12. It was a close game throughout the first half with China at one point getting up 13, till the Boomers went on a 14-0 run and closed out the half 1 point in front. The final half was close in a high pressure defensive effort, but Australia finished on top 69-65.


Game 3 is going to be televised on free to air on channel 9, Saturday at 2:00pm. For now all i'v heard is that the boomers won but apart from that I'm trying not find out, sorry.