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USA shows how you do it
TweetUM, yes. That's how you do it. The USA sent a powerful message to opponents at the FIBA World Cup with its 114-55 win over Finland to start its campaign.
No mess, no fuss. Move along. Nothing to see here ... apart from the corpse of Finland's hopes.
The Americans were ruthless and efficient.
We all know that without names such as LeBron, Carmelo, Paul George, Blake, Dwight etcetera, this is not necessarily the very best USA team available.
But when you look at who IS there, and who's coaching, you still also know that yes, they are vulnerable but they are unquestionably the team to beat.
So much for ill-conceived reports such as one I read which had Australia "scaring the crap" out of the USA.
No.
I don't think so.
Pretty sure our favorite non-Aussie, Melbourne-born Kyrie Irving, expressed the more genuine USA view when he was asked about the Boomers and said he didn't even know who was on the team.
If anything other than just typically blunt, brutal American honesty, it was a smallish slap for his Cleveland Cavaliers NBA back-up Matthew Dellavedova.
And maybe his Melbourne work-out partner Chris Goulding.
While the Americans were putting the finish to the Finnish, Australia was analysing where it went astray in the 80-90 loss to Slovenia.
An 80-point score and shooting at 51 per cent will win you a lot of international games.
But what was missing - until the final frantic minutes when the Boomers forced turnovers and almost made Slovenia pay the ultimate price - was the swagger necessary to be successful at this level.
The Boomers will improve on that performance - of that there is no doubt. But when you are talking up your medal chances you have to back that up with unshakeable self-belief.
Look at the USA.
I'm not suggesting for even a millisecond we boast their level of athleticism or one-on-one talent, but their attitude also sets them apart.
No, we don't want our attitude to spill into arrogance as it often does with the Americans.
But if we do believe we belong in the sport's upper echelon, then we have to add the swagger of self-assuredness.
That was missing against Slovenia.
Dellavedova turned over the ball on the game's first offence trying to force a pass.
It's not a cardinal sin by any measure. But I didn't see him do that in London or too often in an NBA game so I take it instead as a barometer of the tension he (and the team) was feeling.
That tension has been released with a 10-point loss that wasn't in any way horrific.
It hasn't dampened Australia's chances of finishing first or third in the group - which avoids the USA until deep in the tournament - but how the Boomers approach Korea tonight will be considerably more insightful.
Let's hope we see the Jingles smirk, for example.
Here was the NewsCorp match report of Game 1 overnight:
