Another Aussie team this year - you might say big whoop. Well you'd be making
a mistake. Tonight's game should be a treat.
Last time they came through, we were stunned at how fundamentally sound they
are. The ball zipped around the defense and they are tremendously skilled
- or the last group was anyway - at exploiting imbalances in the defense. The
ball would zip in to a double team, and it went immediately to the open
guy. They were also incredibly sharp on fast breaks, able to drive in and
then kick out to the secondary breaker for a nice perimeter J. There is
not a lot of dunking or 360's or any of the typical American flashiness, and the
fundamentals are impeccable. They just play the game, sadly, at a higher
level than most Americans do.
Anyway, we gained an immense respect for Aussie basketball from that group.
If this group is anywhere near that one, we're in for a good game. A lot of
the improvement in Aussie ball, by the way, is probably largely to be credited
to Andrew Gaze's father, who it he patriarch of Aussie ball. He certainly
taught his son well.