MELBOURNE (2015 FIBA Oceania Championship) - The Australian Boomers have booked their place in Rio, and they will be hoping Andrew Bogut doesn't miss the plane this time.

While some may have mistaken Bogut's injury dramas ahead of Game 2 of the FIBA Oceania Championship for gamesmanship, nothing could be further from the truth.

It has been revealed Bogut was struggling to get out of bed when his teammates took flight to Wellington, but after round-the-clock treatment the 2.13m centre made it across 'the ditch' for tip-off.

He then exposed the one chink in New Zealand's tough armour - interior size - with a game-changing third-quarter performance.

Now's the time to make it known publicly just what a significant effort that was from Andrew Bogut to overcome that pain. - Lemanis 

Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis said: "It speaks volumes to the bloke, and it's just so pleasing to have a group of guys who are that committed to wearing the green and gold singlet that they make those sorts of sacrifices to represent their country.

The coach went on to add that "it took our best effort from our best guys to get us across the line" in the series, and he was glad players like Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova and Co were on board.

"After an NBA championship year, and Delly played in the [NBA] Finals series, it would have been easy for both those guys to say, 'Look, I've had a big year and I'll take this off-season to have some time for myself', but they love playing for the Boomers," he said.

Yet while the media hype was around Australia's NBA representatives, the Game 2 boxscore gave away the Boomers' secret, with seven players scoring between eight and 14 points.

"Our depth enables us to sustain a level defensively to make them work for everything at the offensive end, but also make sure they couldn't rest defensively," Lemanis said. 

"We've got enough firepower and weapons, our push of the ball, running them off screens, they had to continue to be engaged in the game whenever they were on the floor."

With 11 Boomers rotating in and out to maintain a relentless intensity, the Tall Blacks simply couldn't keep up over the 80-minute series.

That team approach will be a key factor again at the Rio Olympics against opponents who like to play a slower game, but for Dellavedova a little bit of superstar inspiration from Bogut won't go astray either.

"It definitely fires up the boys, because he's putting his body on the line to play for us as a group," he said. 

"To start the second half the way he did really gave us an emotional boost and it’s just great to be playing out there with him."

FIBA