By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Australia grabbed the narrow win over France to seal the first place in Group L and it was in no small part thanks to Aron Baynes. The big man’s motivation without a doubt also comes from his desire to help his teammates: “There’s no other group of guys I’d rather be out there going to war with than these bunch of mates.”
He had an amazing shooting night with 5-6 from deep but he also did a hell of a job on defense: “They are busting their ass as best as they can to make it tough on their guards, they are pressuring full court, they are chasing over [the screens], they are doing as much as they can so I have to step up and try and put my body on the line as well. When we sacrifice for each other like that it’s a great thing for us”, Baynes said.
Coach Andrej Lemanis also pointed out that his squad was true to themselves and their fighting spirit: “I think there were a few pleasing things tonight, the first is the fact that we got down by nine in the third quarter, things were going against us and it would have been an easy time to let things slip, but true to the Boomers spirit we were able to regather ourselves, knuckle down defensively, and execute some nice offensive sets to get the rhythm going again.”
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL