Andersen, Nielsen have messed up the Boomers for now

ATHENS (Olympics) – Australia coach Brian Goorjian is never at a loss for words, and what he had to say after the Boomers’ 71-69 defeat to Croatia at the Acropolis Tournament on Monday will certainly have raised eyebrows Down Under and all over Europe.

“We are a completely different team with (Matt) Nielsen and (David) Andersen,” Goorjian said.

“Matt Nielsen and David Andersen have just arrived and the bottom line so far is that we played together better without them than with them.”

That’s spot-on.

Australia swept Iran in a three-game friendly series and also annihilated New Zealand in two games without Andersen and Nielsen.

With two of the country’s best-known and very successful European-based professionals now in the team, it’s been a different story.

The Boomers have lost two of their three games to Croatia since arriving in Europe.

“We used to play as a shorter team, now we’ve got to move the ball inside, and we are not very comfortable at the moment,” Goorjian said.

“We used to shoot 44 to 45% for threes but tonight, we were five of 33.

“We looked disjointed on offense, our perimeter players looked lost, our defensive transition was poor.”

Goorjian has cause for even more concern because Australia, as they like to say in Melbourne, are going to have even more “bigs” soon.

He’ll have to blend in an NBA center in Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut.

“We will become really big with the addition of Bogut,” Goorjian admitted.

When it’s all said and done, Andersen and Nielsen have screwed things up – at least for now.

They’re great players, but Australia were playing at full throttle both on offense and defense without them.

They had found their rhythm.

This isn’t a blame game, though.

Big man Andersen, particularly, but also Nielsen have just come off extremely hard campaigns with their clubs.

They took a deserved rest after the season and missed the early training camp and games against the Iranians and Kiwis.

Here’s what I think, and obviously Goorjian does as well.

The Australians need the quality that Andersen, Nielsen and Bogut can bring to the team but only if they are 100% fit and if they are in form.

A shorter Australia can press and put up three-pointers as much as they want in China, but it’s only going to take them so far.

They need an inside game as well.

“The problem is that neither Andersen nor Nielsen are in great shape now, but we must deal with it and it is my responsibility to make them feel more comfortable before we get to Beijing,” Goorjian said.

“I’m not going to take any of them off the team. We must just learn to play with them.”

Jeff Taylor, Basketball World News