Rod Laver packed and 2-0 to Aussies
TweetROD Laver Arena was packed, the basketball was tense and Australia came away with two strong wins. What's not to like about Oceania Day 1?
When the games also are live on free-to-air television, 15,062 folks are on hand to raise the roof and the Boomers go to Day 2 with a 12-point buffer and the Opals with a 20, is there any cause for complaint?
The short answer is no.
The Opals shot as poorly as you might expect, given the jitters of playing in front of the sport's biggest home crowd since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
But they won 61-41 and head to Tauranga needing to be beaten by 21 points to miss automatic qualification to the Rio Olympics.
Not happening.
The Boomers were made to look rusty and out-of-sync by a much smoother Tall Blacks unit which played seven warm-up games, had no major player disruptions and had everything to play for.
Australia still won 71-59.
I am sure there will be some who will lampoon the coaching and say we should have won by more, or Patty should have started or, or, or...
Truth is, NO-ONE knows the Tall Blacks better than Boomers boss Andrej Lemanis, who steered most of them, as the Breakers, to three consecutive NBL championships.
To get the Game 2 cushion (Wellington on Tuesday) into double figures was a great effort against a very good team and it was fabulous to see Patty, Bogues and Delly - in particular - but also the super key David Andersen, live in action for Australia in Australia.
In Andrew Bogut's own words from his post-game tweet: "Great win @AussieBoomers! Need one more in NZ on Tuesday. Rod Laver Arena was rocking... Thank you Melbourne!!!"
Well said.
The night was well presented, the haka is always an emotional bonus and other than some having to mute the TV commentary, it was a night well done.