The Rose Gold Australian Boomers begin their quest for Gold this Friday night. Patty Mills and Josh Giddey will go a long way in determining if the boys have what it takes to make their dream a reality, a Gold Medal in the upcoming World Championships. Giddey has been phenomenal in the warm up games, and will need to get Patty in his usual FIBA Rhythm to get us over the line.

The Boomers face off against Finland at 6.30pm AEST Friday night (ESPN) In a match up that’ll test the boys inside. Lauri Markannen will cause a smaller Boomers line up some issues, with the loss of Jock Landale concerning for the Green and Gold. It’ll be big boys by committee at the World Champs, with a huge opportunity for Duop Reath to lead the way and stake his claims for an NBA call up. Xavier Cooks, Nick Kay and Jack White will back up Reath and all will be called upon to stop Markannen who can hurt us on the perimeter and inside the paint.

The biggest test may come Sunday, when the Boomers face off against Germany. Dennis Schroder and Franz Wagner lead an elite German outfit who just recently should’ve knocked off the USA in their warm up series, had it not been a big last from Anthony Edwards and the boys in the red white and blue. Josh Green and Matisse Thybulle will be called upon to lock up the star German Duo, with this game potentially deciding who wins the group, which is why game 1 against Finland is of extreme importance to our Boomers.

Granted we take care of business in games 1 and 2 (even if we split) the final game against Japan will still be important. We can’t take anyone lightly at the World Cup, and having someone like Yuta Watanabe for Japan should keep the Boomers on their toes. Prediction: Boomers finish 3-0 in the group stage, with the game against Germany going down to the wire. The experience of Patty Mills and Joe Ingles goes a long way in getting the boys the clean sweep in their group.

Let’s go Boomers!

Bauky