Despite having players off in the NBA for the playoffs, the Australian Boomers had no trouble dominating play in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
They finished up with an 87 – 47 win over Canada to take the gold medal.
The Canadians seemed to be a legitimate threat after upsetting the Kiwis in the semifinal, so the Boomers ratcheted up their defensive intensity and put an effective damper on their opponents’ scoring for all four quarters of the final.
Offensively, the Boomers spread the point scoring around, with Chris Goulding leading the way with just 11 points. He was assisted by Nicholas Kay and Nathan Sobey, both of whom added 10 points each.
It had not been expected that the Canadians would be in the final, but the Boomers were tipped from the outset. Australia ran rough shod over Scotland by the score of 103 – 46, but to be fair, many of the Scots were not even aware of the existence of a game called basketball.
The Boomers limited the Canucks to 19 points in the first half and never acted as though they were the anointed.
“For us, it was all business no matter who we played, and we locked into what we wanted to do,” Jason Cadee said post-game in remarks picked up by the AAP.
“I think it’s a credit to our depth, we go 12-deep, and we just come at guys over 40 minutes, and it’s tough to keep up when we just keep throwing fresh bodies at you.”
Like the Boomers, the Canadians had some players absent for NBA duties and they had to rely on mostly college players and could not seem to find the bottom of the basket for the entire game.
“Playing Australia in Australia in a meaningful international game is a priceless experience for these young guys,” said Canada coach Kirby Schepp.
They will get another chance in 2022, so far as Commonwealth Games competitions is concerned, when the CGs are staged in England.
