AUSTRALIA'S bumbling Boomers belatedly came good yesterday when they duly thrashed the Group A easybeats Iran 106-68 to set up what forward Matt Nielsen described as a do-or-die "crack at the Ruskies".
A victory in tomorrow's match could eventually prove enough to put the Australians into the quarter-finals; defeat would mean they leave Beijing - as they left Athens four years ago when they finished ninth - not with a boom but with a whimper.
Before the tournament, Boomers veteran Chris Anstey said: "You'd shoot yourself if you lost to Iran at the Olympics."
Fortunately that won't now be necessary - though the way they played in their opening two games against Croatia and Argentina, which they lost by 97-82 and 85-68 respectively, they would have probably shot and missed anyway.
What a difference a win, any sort of win, makes. The Boomers left the court after last Tuesday's loss to defending Olympic champions Argentina looking positively despondent.
When they left it yesterday, the confidence, the can-do aggression, was almost palpable as the 12-man squad threw down their towels, pumped their fists and hugged each other. For here was a result and, more important, a whole-hearted performance that could provide the momentum so far lacking.
Despite Iran's previous heavy defeats, the Boomers' urbane coach, Brian Goorjian, was taking nothing for granted. "They're not chopped liver," he insisted, afterwards. "This was a dangerous game for us, especially the way we've been playing. I was very nervous coming into the game."
In fact the underdog Iranians came with size but without the skills to match. Whether through inexperience or ineptitude they frequently froze, or were frozen out, at crucial passages of play, allowing the Boomers too much time and space.
They took two minutes to score their first, single point and, thereafter, were chasing an unwinnable game, despite being urged on by most neutrals in the Olympic Basketball Gymnasium.
Australia led by 13 after the first quarter, 24 at halfway and 27 at the three-quarter mark, as the pumped-up Boomers, led by their $76-million man, Andrew Bogut, repeatedly put their bodies - and those of their opponents - on the line. At times it was messy: more than once Bogut was sent sprawling or left dangling from an empty ring. At times it was comical: Iranian forward Hamed Ehadadi did a wonderful 270 degree turn for a slam dunk, but forgot to take the ball with him.
The match statistics reflected a match that the Boomers dominated without being at their best. Brad Newley top-scored with 24 points. Once again Patrick Mills, Anstey and Bogut were stand-out performers. But collectively the Boomers hit barely half of their field goal attempts. Their defence was occasionally ragged.
But Goorjian was pleased. "We were disappointing in our first two games. Some of the guys are young and relatively inexperienced. And some of our bigs didn't get here [Beijing] till late. But everybody's heart has been in the right place."
The Boomers finish their group games against the formidable Lithuania on Monday. But, as Goorjian says, the bottom line is they must first beat the European champions. "I always thought that would be the case."
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