Basketball On The Internet.

AUSTRALIA’s Opals took the saying “sometimes you just have to win ugly” to heart today with an unimpressive 61-56 escape against Turkey at the Rio Olympics.

The team the Opals pantsed by 30 points two years ago IN Turkey at the FIBA World Championship for the bronze medal, seized the initiative from the start with Nevriye Yilmaz setting an immediate tone.

She racked up the points as the Opals racked up the fouls, Turkey ahead 15-12 after one quarter. In that fateful bronze medal game in front of Turkey’s fans, the Opals held much the same team to four points in the opening period.

But that was a different Opals team notable for its fast starts throughout the tournament, coach Brendan Joyce’s current configuration slow out of the blocks against Brazil and spluttery today.

If not for Liz Cambage (22 points, 11 rebounds), Turkey could have built a bigger buffer and it was largely some spark off the bench from Tessa Lavey, then Katie-Rae Ebzery which kick-started the Opals.

Leilani Mitchell (11 points, three assists) hit some big baskets when Australia needed them but the experiment of playing Erin Phillips exclusively as an off-guard does not seem to be working. (Remember she narrowly missed AllStar 5 selection in Turkey playing the point.)

Neither is starting Nat Burton at power forward, where in 24:42 today she managed two points, no rebounds, three fouls and three turnovers.

LARA'S THEME: It was disruption, Turkey's Lara Sanders causing all kinds of angst today.

Considering Yilmaz (14 points, 8 on 4-of-5 shooting in first quarter) and Lara Sanders (25 points, 7 rebounds) were big in the paint, defensively the Aussies weren’t highly efficient either, albeit hamstrung by foul woes for Cambage and Marianna Tolo.

TOUGH NIGHT: Erin Phillips worked hard late to curtail Turkey's Isil Alben.

But Phillips, who worked hard defensively - especially late in the game when it was there to be saved - on quicksilver Turkish playmaker Isil Alben, went 0-of-5 from the field.

Similarly and unusually, Penny Taylor went 1-of-7, scoring her only basket with 6:59 left and completing a three-point play.

With the exception of Cambage (9-of-16), Australia’s shooting was awful, going 22-of-60 (36.7%) and battling all night to find any flow or rhythm.

The reliance on Lizzie was huge and when she sat due to her foul problems, her menacing keyway presence absent, the Opals’ defence was very vulnerable to the drive-and-dish.

In Turkey, Joyce had a unified team all on the same page, bunkered in after losing Cambage to injury on the tournament eve, ready to work hard to achieve something special together. And it did.

They averaged 78.5ppg, won by an average of 29.8ppg and played USA tough to lose by 12, holding the gold medal-winning Americans to their tournament low score.

But the Olympics so far have been a vastly different scenario. Where in Turkey, Joyce started Phillips, Rachel Jarry, Taylor, Laura Hodges and Tolo, with a regular back-up rotation in which everyone knew their role, the sync has been missing in Rio.

The opening quintet now of Mitchell, Phillips, Taylor, Burton and Cambage hasn’t shown anywhere near the same proficiency as its Turkey predecessor and some of the subsequent rotations too have looked haphazard.

That said, roles change, players grow, players age. Cambage has been the Opals’ shining light and Mitchell its other most consistent contributor. It’s early days yet, there’s time to sort through the problems and supposedly easier opponents (Japan, Belarus) on the horizon.

There’s just France next, the French having beaten Turkey by 16 and held them to 39 points so there is some work to do in a hurry. A lot can happen at an Olympics so expecting the unexpected is part of the routine.

The Opals haven’t truly shone yet as a unit. Winning ugly today not only exposed some of their flaws but also showed they remain capable of winning despite them.

AUSTRALIA OPALS 61 (Cambage 22, Mitchell, Ebzery 11; Cambage 11 rebs; Lavey, Mitchell, Taylor 3 assts) d TURKEY 56 (Sanders 25, Yilmaz 14, Alben 13; Sanders 7 rebs; Demirmen 7 assts).
 

PS

Reminder, if you're looking for the tip-off times for TV cover of the Opals or Boomers, check "Sleepless nights ahead" at this site last Friday.