After narrowly falling to Greece in their last match of the group games, the Aussie Boomers can’t allow any lapses in tonight’s quarter final against Serbia.
The Boomers and local star Jock Landale will have to bring their best for the challenge, to be played at 10.30pm Australian time.
Against Greece, the Boomers couldn’t hit and hold form.
They scraped through to the quarter finals based on their previous group rounds performances, which included a win against Spain and a loss to Canada.
The Serbian team boasts a roster with plenty of Euroleague and NBA talent.
Among them is Nikola Jokic - the NBA’s reigning MVP and a three time recipient of the award.
Landale may have the direct match up with Jokic, as both men have been playing from the centre position this Olympics - an extremely tough task for any player in the world.
The Boomers will be buoyed by the fact they never really played that well against the Greek team, starting slow, missing an unhealthy amount of free throws and not capitalising on defensive stops.
If they are to win tonight, it will only be with a strong team performance where we see a number of contributors, strong team defence and a consistency they couldn’t find last game.
If Australia defeat Serbia, they could go on to play the United States, who play Brazil in their first game out of the group stages.