Our Australian Boomers go head to head with Slovenia in what’s now a must win for our boys on Friday night (10.10pm ESPN).

Australia took home the Bronze (Rose Gold) in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics with one of the greatest performances of all time from Patty Mills (42 Pts and 9 Assists) in a 107-93 win.

Luka Doncic was well maintained in the contest, holding him to 22 Pts along with 8 Rebounds and 7 Assists, and the Boomers will need a similar defensive effort to once again come out on top.

We now go into a group of 4 with Germany, Slovenia and Georgia, needing to win both games against Slovenia and Georgia to progress to the following round due to our loss against Germany.

Following our game against Slovenia, the boys face Georgia team who will be out to spoil our party on Sunday at 5.30pm.

Georgia have some solid NBA talent on their roster, notably Goga Bitadze and Sandro Mamukeshvili.

It hasn’t been the usual Patty Mills show at the World Cup this year, with Josh Giddey and Xavier Cooks starring for the Boomers in their must win game against Japan.

Josh posted 26 Points, 5 Rebounds and 11 Assists in the 20 point win, while Cooks had his best game in green and gold colours with 24 Points and 16 Rebounds.

Cooks has been incredible all tournament, and is more than making up for the loss of Jock Landale, as well as showing the world while the Wizards acquired his services.

They’ll need all this and more against Slovenia, and a vintage FIBA Patty game would not go astray! 

It’s time for the entire country to get behind the boys and stop Luka and Slovenia and take us through to the next stage of the FIBA World Cup!

Cheers

Bauky