BASKETBALL: Australian women’s coach Carrie Graf and men’s coach Brett Brown are tremendously excited about the potential of the two teams considering the great form of our young players at these Olympics.

Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and Liz Cambage stood out as our best young players, but it didn’t end there. There was solid support from fellow young players Matt Dellavedova among the men and Abby Bishop, Jenna O’Hea and Rachel Jarry among the women.

There was tremendous camaraderie shown between the men’s and women’s teams as well at these Games, which can only help the overall cause.

The Boomers were eliminated in the quarter-finals by the USA, but came along to watch the Opals win the bronze medal by beating Russia. After the game, the Opals players went to the Boomers players in the crowd, and there were many hugs and much congratulations.

Graf summed the team’s campaign up perfectly when she said that while the young players made great strides, the experienced players, led by Lauren Jackson, Kristi Harrower and Suzy Batkovic, led the way when a medal was on the line.

“I think there are some great signs out of this Olympics,” Graf said. “Liz Cambage, for her first Olympics, was wonderful, Rachel Jarry, Jenna O'Hea and Abby Bishop - as first time Olympians in their early 20s - were superb for us.

“But the bronze medal match belonged to the veterans, and deservedly so. They led the way in the big game. As veterans, they showed their experience.”

The experience the younger players gained here will be particularly vital going forward to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, because there is no guarantee Jackson and Batkovic, both 31, will make it that far. Their minds may still be strong, but it depends on how long their bodies hold up.

And Harrower bowed out of international competition at these Games, already leaving a hole.

“Four Olympics and four medals,” Harrower said. “I am pretty happy. I will cherish all the medals that I have got, it is always nice to be in the gold medal game, but when you look at it (winning the Bronze) you actually finish the Olympics on a win.”

The women hurt their cause when they lost to France in their second game of the preliminary rounds. They won all of their other games, against Great Britain, Brazil, Russia and Canada, but didn’t finish on top of their group and that meant they were likely to run into the USA in the semi-finals, rather than the final. They beat China in the quarter-finals to set up the semi date.

The Opals made a great challenge against the Americans in the semi, and led at halftime, but couldn’t keep it going in the second half.

The Boomers got off to an awful start in their campaign, losing their first two preliminary-round games against Brazil and Spain. But it was a tough opening draw, and they were competitive in losing.

They showed how good they were by winning their next three games, against China, Great Britain and Russia. The win over Team GB came after the Boomers were 10 points down at half time. After the break Australia went on a 70-29 run to destroy the hopes of the hosts, and Mills was again the star finishing with 39 points.

The Boomers progressed to set up a quarter-final match with the star-studded USA side. The Aussies weren’t intimidated by Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and company, and gave it their best shot, at one stage shocking the Americans by going on an 11-0 run to cut their lead back to three points early in the second half.

But it is hard to do it all game when the opposition can keep bringing on one star NBA player after another, and the Americans finally ran away in the final quarter.

Brown was delighted with his team’s performance at these Games, and the individual efforts in particular of Mills and Ingles.

“I think Patty had a great tournament,” Brown said. “He’s learning how to be a point guard and a leader.”

USA star Carmelo Anthony was one of many of the American players also glowing in praise of Mills.
“He was shooting the ball well, running that team, getting out on open court and making plays for everybody, and himself,” Anthony said. “You could tell that he’s grown as a basketball player.”

Brown said he thought Ingles was good enough to follow Mills into the NBA.

“He has been with me for four years, and I’ve seen the emergence of him, especially defensively,” Brown said of Ingles. “He really has a high skill package for his size.

“There’s a competitive spirit, there’s a desire to guard, and I think that for those reasons his future is on the up and up. I think the NBA will pay attention, especially after these Olympic Games.”

Greg Prichard and Lucy Mills in London
olympics.com.au