Brad&Boti: Opals soar, Boomers sore and not 'Great Scott'
BRAD&BOTI: Better late than never! A few unfortunate technical issues haunted last week's Brad&Boti podcast with Sydney multi-media mogul Brad Rosen and I wrapping up the Paris Olympics and the latest NBL shock, but here it is now for your enjoyment (or otherwise).
Patty Mills on song to be a Jazzman
AUSTRALIAN Boomers Paris Games captain Patty Mills has landed on his NBA feet, the five-time Olympian signing a new guaranteed one-year deal worth $US3.3million at Utah Jazz, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. A while back the Jazz had both Dante Exum and Joe Ingles on its roster.
Storm legend Lauren Jackson an Olympic inspiration
BOB'S BONUS: Our Seattle-based (and therefore Storm-friendly) US correspondent BOB CRAVEN dropped us a piece from "The Seattle Times" by Chris Kudialis which appeared last week during the height of the Olympics in Paris about our GOAT, Lauren Jackson and which we reprint here.
Smith a star as USA staves off gritty France
FRANCE went down fighting but the USA held firm to win their women's Olympic Gold Medal match 67-66 in arguably the best such Final in decades, Gabby Williams' last basket, a floating jumper on the siren fired from just inside the arc, creating the closing scoreline when just a few inches back would have meant overtime.
Ezi stamps her mark as Opals claim Bronze
WITH a personal performance as good as any produced for Australia, Ezi Magbegor tonight stamped herself among our women's basketball all-time Olympic greats with a 30-point, 13-rebound tour de force that drove the Opals to an 85-81 Bronze Medal victory over Belgium.
Curry long-range missiles end French resistance
IF anyone can make a case for there being a greater long-range shooter in the history of basketball than Steph Curry, we'd all like to hear it. What he did for the USA against France in the Olympic men's Final had to be seen to be believed, and even then it took some believing.
Opals taught a lesson in US semi rout
ON what is now a 60-win Olympic streak, the invincible USA women's basketball machine last night simply flexed its muscles and rolled over Australia, taking the Opals out of any semblance of cohesive offence, destroying whatever gameplan they had, then sitting back to enjoy what Isobel Borlase will bring to their WNBA.
Brad&Boti: Opals can progress, give LJ a shot
AUSTRALIA versus the USA in the Paris Olympic women's semi final. This is the match Lauren Jackson has to play in. At least that's the view of Brad&Boti podcast colleague Brad Rosen and myself as we review the Opals and Boomers' quarter-finals and prepare for the big one overnight.
Curry rescues US's 'best of all time'
IT took nine 3-point makes in a 36-point haul by Steph Curry, a 19-point game from Joel Embiid and a triple-double from LeBron James for the USA to escape Serbia 95-91 in their Olympic semi final, Nikola Jokic again showing he is the world's master basketballer in 2024.
African Olympic teams remind how to play the game
THE minor kerfuffle which closed the Paris Olympic women's quarter-final between USA and Nigeria was totally a result of American arrogance and a so-called "tradition" of not "disrespecting the opponent" by dribbling out the final seconds of any game already decided. The fact Ezinne Kalu decided to score instead was delightful to see.