Great Britain saw their Olympic dreams of advancing to the quarter finals come to an end on Saturday night after a monumental second half collapse to Australia, losing 106-75.
GB were outscored 70-29 in the second half, looking like an entirely different team to the first half, where they played some of their best basketball of the tournament. It’s a familiar story for GB, who at times look like they can compete with the world’s best, but at others look like a team who have no right to be competing on the world stage.
“It (the quarter-finals) was certainly a place we thought we could get to but we didn’t play 40 quality minutes today,” Head Coach Chris Finch said after the game. “We were hurt by some ‘old demons’ today, if you will, an inability to handle pressure and cheap threes. That really turned the game around for them.”
Reflecting on some of Australia’s dominant scoring runs, including an 18-0 burst to put the game away, Finch added:
“We just needed a couple of buckets, to finish couple of lay-ups. And add another missed goal-tending call in there, and at that point you just need anything to break up the run and we couldn’t do that. We couldn’t get to the free throw line, couldn’t get a lay-up, had a couple of lay-up chances that we missed. They got in one of those zones where everything seemed to go in.”
Australia finished shooting 57% from the field, including 13/24 from three point range, most of which came in the second half. Patty Mills was a man on a mission for the Australian side, finishing with 39 points, on 14/22 shooting (5/7 from deep), to tally the top individual scoring performance of the Olympics so far.
Joel Freeland led GB with 16 points, whilst Dan Clark added 14.
GB will look to finish their tournament with a win on Monday as they take on China, who are also looking to pick up their first win.
Game 1
France beat Tunisia 73-69.
France booked their place in the quarter finals with a victory over Tunisia. Tony Parker had 22 points on 9/13 shooting, whilst Nicolas Batum added 19 on 6/9 from the field. Mohamed Hadidane had 20 points in 14 minutes for Tunisia.
Box score.
Game 2
Russia shocked Spain 77-74.
Box score.
Game 3
USA beat Lithuania 99-94.
Box score.
Game 4
Brazil beat China 98-59
Box score.
Game 6
Argentina beat Nigeria 93-79
Box score.
Notes
- Assistant coach Nick Nurse seemed to let slip (before back pedaling) that this will be his last campaign with the GB team. The beginning of the mass exodus of staff post-Olympics?
- Devastating end to the Olympic dream. Gutted for the team, gutted for British basketball. Showed so much promise at times, but it means nothing without the wins.
- In the post-game press conference Chris Finch spoke about the importance of developing guards for GB to succeed in the future.
- Finch also said he had no regrets about taking the risk on bringing the injured Mike Lenzly to the games.
What did you think of the games? Thoughts on the tourney so far?
You'll probably like these :
Follow Us
Join the 8000+ others who follow Hoopsfix and subscribe.
Loading ...
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
are the refs trying to give the game to spain..some of the calls and flops have been horrible, whenevrer russia gets some rhythm the refs put an end to it….everyone in european basketball knows the spaniards are cheats and helped by the officials…ask the greeks and the serbs
ok…my predictions for the semi finals……..usa to beat spain, russia to beat france….
then who know…usa are overwhelming favourites but russia has a superior basketball iq/team play and has more athleticism than other european/argentinian teams, alt
although maybe not enough to challenge usa seriously
i feel for GB had things gone there way it could have been different but lets be real who was we kidding when we thought we had a chance. We were doomed from when we lost our other 2 NBA players before these Olympics got started. Ben Gordon was smart to sort out his NBA future as for the other guy he must have seen the group and thought his summer is better spent else were got the passport and ran off never to be seen again. GB basketball what a joke i guess its back to the BBL and EBL for the rest of us LOL happy Olympics fokes
What an a***. With friends like this who needs enemies.
GB basketball a joke? Not as much as you pal.
Stand in front of Joel, Pops, Drew or any of them and tell them they are a joke. That would take guts which are obviously lacking in the Free agent household.
Fokes!!!!
My friend I was at the Olympics basketball arena and I stood there and told the players how I felt what they gonna do. Please you maybe just a GB fan but am a basketball fan not an arm chair support so I got no time for people like you I wish to see you on the court one day with all your Internet hype I beg you allow your chat
They let the rest of TeamGB down. Going from a strong lead to getting thrashed is beyond disappointing. Could have been the icing on the cake today if they kept our chances of a qualification after a great day of gold wins. But sadly they had to go and ruin it.
I really do not understand the general reaction. This team won just two games in preparation and yet people were expecting a miracle. The format of the Olympic tournament has finally shown were GB basketball is really and that we still have a lot to learn.
Finch speaks about the need for quality guards, but leaves out Adeboye and Van Oostrum?
Yes, today’s result was extremely poor but we have to realise that in a group of 12 olympic teams, we were arguably the 12th best… however, we have performed admirably, up to this point we have the best points differential of all the teams without wins. okay, not much to cling to without getting that W but we really aren’t “letting the rest of Team GB down” in my opinion.
I’m actually happy with how they did in the whole tournament overall, but this particular match was very, very horrible to watch after 2nd half. Going from a strong lead to a massive loss means they messed up bad and played way worse than their capable.
But there was also some really bad refeering in this. Referee constantly missing the most obvious fouls from Australia
GB had to build on the back of the Spainish loss which a lot of none basketball fans seem to have been talking about and created a bit of biz.
We had to win tonight and against China for Basketball to have any real presence in the public eye, especially with all the success in cycling, rowing and athletics.
British basketball has been left at the port and missed the boat with so much success within team GB they are just another sport that other countries play well and we don’t.
I think Nick Nurse won’t be the only exit from the coaching staff after the games have finished, I would also think that Chris Finch will also follow.
The disappointing thing is that for all the resources and superstars available to coaches and management this summer it feels like we have gone backwards. The play is poorer, the results are certainly poorer than last summer.
If we are weak at guard (didn’t look that bad at test event and Lithuania last year?) – then surely we should have been working with players over the last 12 months eg even telling them that we don’t want to play aggressive ball would have been simple enough.
There have been a few performances over the summer, including against Australia yesterday, which have been frankly embarrassing for GB basketball – I am sure the players (not sure about the Coach) will be the first to admit that. I hope the Olympics will produce the boost for the sport we all love – the media exposure of the likes Argentina, Spain, USA is a once in a lifetime opportunity. In terms of team GB however its a massive missed opportunity in my opinion.
You have to wonder what was going on behind the scenes. The warm up games were a disaster, and to lose like that in the biggest game for GB basketball ever is really shocking. Deng gave up and it was clear that no one else could offer up anything. When teams give up like that, they have no faith in themselves and no faith in the team. The coaches could not install any belief in the team – parallels with the U20s team.
Frustratingly it was a microcosm of the story of British basketball, the talent is there, the organisation and structure was not. Without a huge change in the way things are run (and the people that are running it), the growing popularity of the game will count for nothing.
I think we might not even have a GB team with this much talent for a long time, with some of the best players likely to leave. I fear there might not even be a GB basketball team at all; Wales will definitely not want to join up now sadly :(
We have all been talking about the publicity the sport will gain from GB playing in the Olympics, but I just wonder how much the Olympics has actually benefitted English basketball.
All the basketball games have been shown on BBC of course, but, they have all been shown via the red button, not one GB game was shown on any of the terrestial channels.
For basketball enthusiasts, they will have tuned in to the red button automatically to watch the basketball, but I wonder just how many of the general public would have done so.
In Spain, Turkey, Russia etc., all their games were shown on main public television so that both basketball enthusiasts and the general public alike would all see the basketball, thus giving maximum exposure of the sport.
One has to hope that by televising the sport, it will have improved the sport’s image and encouraged young people to want to play basketball, but whether this is the case or not will only be determined next season when player numbers improve or spectators start flocking in to watch BBL games.
Let’s hope that this will be the case.
On an aside; it was perhaps a pity that during the commentary of the games, o encouragement was given to young people to participate in basketball and no mention was made as to how youngsters could find a club or make enquiries about basketball.
I know a few pseudo-basketball fans who tuned into the games despite them not being in the spotlight on BBC One/Two. But your point about the commentary is very good, I think that John Amaechi, one of the biggest supporters of grassroots basketball, would have made some sort of push to say “log onto blah blah blah to find your closest basketball”. Very disappointing.
GB women are out with out any wins to there name men v China is a must win what had bent learnt. If you ask me nothing that we don’t already know this nation is not and has never been ready for basketball we only fault with the game with 1 or 2 making it to the highest level. We all know what will happen at the next Olympics I doubt you will see a British basketball team involved Deng should have not bothered and spent his summer sorting out his injury GB has to have a good look at were they go from here
If we are to make a true and honest assessment of what Team GB has achieved, then I think it is fair to say, that it has achieved, more or less, what was expected of it.
The team played a couple of good games and at least one very poor game, but nevertheless the team performed much as expected.
Two of the principal objectives of entering a team into the Olympics were to gain publicity for basketball and to showcase talent that exists in British basketball.
What now should be decided is just how much (of these two principal objectives) has been achieved for the sport with respect to the (enormous) amount of money that has been invested into Team GB.
It is to be hoped that many lessons can be learned, both from the perspective of playing standards, staff appointments, and what must be done to achieve future progess in the sport.
As i’ve siad before the coaching and game plan has given this team no chance of winning, a different approach COULD have made the most of what little talent we have compared to other teams but i’m not going to continue to repeat myself.
My real question is what kind of strategy did the people at British Basketball, England Basketball & Basketball Scotland have for maximising exposure and bringing new young talent to the game? I am a Basketball enthusiast and have seen zero marketing/advertising campaigns to get kids to their local clubs, could the PR people tried a bit harder to get a 5min segment on BBC1 about the team? Handball has! Putting the occasional thing on the EB website is ridiculous as people not already in basketball won’t be on that website!
Where is the real elite development structure, areas of emphasis is all well and good but who’s enforcing these coaching standards, where are the development centres (please don’t mention APCs!)
I’m afraid that the world-changing boost in participation following from the Olympics will not happen as the powers that be have ONCE AGAIN shown themselves to be not up to the task. We have to finally face the fact that Basketball will never, ever be a major sport in this country. I’m sorry to be so negative but you can only flog a dead horse for so long before you have to wake up and face facts. Talented players and coaches need to get out of the UK as soon as possible if they want to live thier dream.
GB’s capitulation to Australia was the single most embarassing game I have ever seen involving GB …and certainly the worst performance by any team at these Games.
One of the things that struck me during the test series last year was the defensive intensity and belief of GB. But over the past 6 weeks, we have seen no repeat of that intensity or belief. Quite the reverse.
I’m left feeling that the men’s senior game has taken a dangerous backwards step. Team chemistry was lacking, on court plays were disjointed and defensive intensity has just not been there.
Lenzly’s injury hurt us – weakness at the point permeates throughout the team. We are all wise after the event, but DVO would at least have brought some creativity into the mix. I fear the coaching staff made a big error here.
Feels like Finch et al will now step down.
Men’s GB basketball has missed a huge opportunity this summer. We need to re-group for Eurobasket next summer, most likley with a new head coach who can bring a different approach. Just get the feeling that Finch did not have the full support of the team. But that said, its the Olympic Games for goodness sake, play with some heart…
Face the facts every 1 basketball is dead in the UK no body wants 2 know all the powers that be just wanna make a quick buck out of us die hard fans. Its back to the BBL and EBL
I have been told by some very experienced basketball people from abroad that all top teams play their group games at a lot lower level and only do enough to get to the next round, then they start playing seriously. So, playing close games with Spain and Brazil is not all that hard – Spain finished 3rd in the group! They also said that teams like GB women drag the level of the other teams down to their own and play ugly and physical and this is why the coaches and players play smart to avoid injuries.