Giddey flirts with triple-double in Boomers opening win

OKINAWA (Japan) - Josh Giddey had a debut to remember as Australia mauled Finland, 98-72, for a rousing start to their FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 campaign, Friday at the Okinawa Arena here.

The 20-year-old point guard finished with 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists, becoming the first player in the 21st century to have more than 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in their first World Cup game since the legendary LeBron James in 2006.

 

Turning point: Giddey joined hands with the Patty Mills and Joe Ingles in turning the game around late in the second quarter, where they wiped out an eight-point deficit and headed into the break holding a 45-40 lead.

Momentum would shift on the Boomers' way as the crew began to pull away in the third quarter. They even led by as much as 29 at one point.

TCL Player of the Game: Mills earned TCL Player of the Game honors as he paced Australia with a game-high 25 points, together with 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 steals.

Special was the night overall for the 35-year-old as he passed Ray Borner as the third all-time leading scorer for the Boomers in the World Cup. He's now 11 away from tying Philip Smith at no. 2 (301).

Stats don't lie: The Boomers were precise, hitting on just over half of their field-goal attempts at 51 percent. Even though they weren't as deadly as they were from downtown (31 percent), they missed only one free throw from 17 attempts, making it an efficient night all around.

Bottom line: With the win, Australia have taken the provisional leadership in Group E (1-0), and are definitely looking to keep their place atop the pool standings as they go up against Germany (August 27) and Japan (August 29) next.

As for Finland (0-1), they will now have to win their next two assignments versus the Akatsuki (August 27) and Die Mannschaft (August 29) if they are to seal one of the top two spots to advance to the Second Round of the Group Phase.

They said: "I just thought we started poorly and just thought we stayed with it. What we talked about leaning in was the importance of defense, I just thought we were tremendous defensively. It started at the end of the second quarter, and went right through the second half, and settled down offensively. We turned the ball over and I think that was nerves, so we settled down and played off our defense and rebounded. I was pleased we got contributions from everybody, and then the man sitting next to me, we talked about his first game as a Boomer in a competition like this. The ball was in his hands. We just didn't have that level of player there in Tokyo and it makes a big difference." - Brian Goorjian, Head Coach, Australia

"I had no idea. But as I always say it's cool to be in company with guys like that. But it's always about the group, it's always about the team. We're lucky to have a deep, 12-man team. I play great, I play bad, what matters is we win the game. We did that tonight. That's what makes me happy." - Josh Giddey, Australia

"First of all, congrats to Australia. They showed the spirit and their way of playing why they are favorites in this tournament. And even though I think we can be proud of how we came into the game and challenged them, showed a good spirit, they didn't panic especially at the end of the second quarter. Took the lead and then kept going. For us, the tournament is long, not a one-game tournament. We take the good from it and learn and bounce back." - Lassi Tuovi, Head Coach, Finland

"Looking at the score, it was pretty tough. They did a great job pushing the pace and playing physical. They took one more step in the physicality in the second half and we weren't ready to match it. I think it was a big learning experience for us also that we can't give teams like this any sort of advantage. When they got going, we struggled to find small solutions to stop them." - Mikael Jantunen, Finland

FIBA