Serving as quite the juxtaposition from their first exhibition game, Australia couldn’t overcome a slow start in an 90-86 loss to Brazil.
Australia trailed Brazil, 23-13, following the first quarter. The middle quarters helped the Boomers get back in the game; they outscored Brazil, 58-41.
Australia’s seven-point lead entering the fourth quarter quickly disappeared. Brazil used a 26-15 scoring advantage to upset the Boomers.
Despite the loss, Josh Giddey had a good outing that displayed his ability to draw contact. In 27 minutes, he finished with 20 points on 7-of-19 shooting, 10 rebounds and four assists. He went 5-of-9 from the free-throw line and 1-of-6 from 3 — despite both being low shooting numbers, it’s still an encouraging sign to see the 20-year-old draw consistent trips to the line under FIBA rules.
Jack White also had a much better outing compared to what he did against Venezuela. In 11 minutes off the bench, he finished with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and four rebounds. He was part of Australia’s second unit that brought them back into the game with an energy-filled second quarter.
The results of these exhibitions don’t matter, so this was a golden opportunity to see how the new-look Australia team would look in crunch time with Giddey as the main ball-handler.
The first batch of results wasn’t optimal as Giddey struggled in the fourth quarter against Brazil, but that’s the purpose of these types of games. This can serve as a learning experience that can help Australia for when the games will actually start to matter starting Aug. 25.
Australia’s full box score can be viewed below:
Let’s look at highlights and instant reactions from Australia’s close loss as Giddey toughed out a 20-point performance.