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The Rollers surrendered a big lead to lose by a point to World Champions Great Britain at the Ariake Arena on Monday and now have two days to sort out their problems before the knock-out stages of the Paralympic tournament begins.
The Australian men’s wheelchair basketball team got out by as many as 20 points and led 38-25 at half time in what, to that point, had been an aggressive and high-tempo first 20 minutes.
However, after the break, the Rollers’ intensity fell away, allowing Great Britain back into the game. Within seven minutes they’d evened the score at 44 before the Australians went into the final rest up 55-50.
Great Britain hit the lead again with 1.20s remaining and produced in the clutch final moments to steal the win, 70-69.
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“It’s kind of been the theme of our tournament,” three-time Paralympian Jannik Blair said.
“We’ve had some really good patches of basketball and then some pretty average ones as well. It’s something we need to analyse and correct for the next couple of games because, playing at the international level, you can’t afford to have those major lapses of form.
“We know that our best basketball is probably the best in the world and then there’s a pretty sharp drop off.
“I think we’ve got to come out better out of half time. We had a poor third quarter against the USA and now a poor third quarter against GB. It can’t happen again, now it’s cut-throat.”
There is plenty of experience in the Rollers’ line-up and Blair is confident the side will be able to fix its problems in time.
“Absolutely. I think it’s a matter of putting 40 minutes together of our basketball, or as close to it as we can. We’re not going to be able to get the job done playing 15 or 20 minutes of good basketball. At this level you need to be able to put together 35 minutes-plus.
“The key is just being a little bit more disciplined, a bit more fundamental and our process will take care of the result.
“When we stick to our process, we know that no one can touch us. But when we deviate away then there are good teams here and they make you pay. “
Sharpshooter Tom O’Neill-Thorne led the scoring for the Rollers with 23 points and captain Shaun Norris contributed 21.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t really matter if we don’t do it for the whole game,” O’Neill-Thorne said.
“We came out firing but maybe we were too emotive to start the game and it kind of died off and we couldn’t find it again. Unreal start, but it really only matters when you finish it off.
“There’s a lot of good things to take away. We know we can put good basketball together, now we’ve just got to do it for 40 minutes.”
The Rollers play Japan in their quarter final on Wednesday at Ariake Arena.
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By: David Sygall, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 30 August 2021
