Boomers’ historic World Cup win as ‘first-class’ Giddey stars, breakout Aussie Cooks explodes

For the Boomers, Tuesday night was just about surviving.

But Australia did more than that, recording its highest score at the World Cup to defeat Japan 109-89 as the next generation of Boomers announced themselves on the international stage.

Josh Giddey, Xavier Cooks and Josh Green – all in their World Cup debuts – combined for 65 points as Australia bounced back from a disappointing loss to Germany to book its spot in the next round.

Green, starting for the first time at the tournament after struggling with elbow and ankle injuries in the warm-up games, was a constant shooting threat while offering elite on-ball defence.

Meanwhile, Giddey was at his playmaking best as he, in NBL championship-winning coach Trevor Gleeson’s words, “picked Japan apart with his basketball IQ”.

Giddey had a team-high 26 points to go with 11 assists and five rebounds.

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MATCH CENTRE: Australia vs Japan score and play-by-play updates

Cooks though made the biggest statement of the night, using his size to make a serious impact on both ends of the floor as he scored 24 points to go with 16 rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Duop Reath also had his best game of the tournament as Australia made full use of its advantage against the undersized Japan, even without Jock Landale, outscoring them 68-34 in the paint.

Australia now moves out of Group E along with first-placed Germany into the second round, where the Boomers will also face Slovenia and one of Georgia and Cape Verde.

The points from the first round roll over though, meaning Germany hold the tiebreak over Australia. In other words, the Boomers have to win all their games from here.

With one eye to the Olympics, Australia will also automatically qualify if New Zealand loses to Greece on Wednesday.

But looking at Tuesday’s game itself, the Boomers made an early statement on the defensive end as Reath denied Joshua Hawkinson with an emphatic block.

Australia then pushed the pace in offence as Giddey opened the scoring for the Boomers.

Giddey then came up with a key hustle play, grabbing the offensive rebound after he missed a floating jump shot, with Reath using his size to finish at the rim.

The 20-year-old guard continued his impressive start to the game as he drove towards the rim and kicked it out to an open Josh Green who made an early 3-pointer and drew a foul.

Green made the free throw for the 4-point play as Australia took an early 8-2 lead.

It was a promising sign given the slow starts that had hurt the Boomers during and in the lead-up to the World Cup and was particularly important this time around in front of a vocal Japanese crowd.

Giddey continued to make an impact as he found Nick Kay and later Green open for more buckets before Reath outhustled Japanese defenders to put home a missed Patty Mills 3-pointer.

Giddey’s playmaking and Australia’s general ball moment was a highlight early, with Joe Ingles making an immediate impact off the bench too as he laid on a dunk for Cooks.

Australia was up 18-12 at that point, with five minutes gone in the first quarter. Japan’s 3-point shooting though was keeping the host nation close as Yuki Togashi pulled up from deep for his first field goal of the tournament.

Cooks then came up big on both ends, first blocking a Keisei Tominaga shot before finding an open lane to the rim and dunking an Ingles pass home to put Australia ahead 20-15.

Japan, meanwhile, looked resigned to live and die by the 3-point shot and struggled in that regard in the first quarter as they made just two of nine shots.

Australia, meanwhile, shared the ball around with nine assists off 11 made baskets and continued to find success as Ingles linked with Giddey for the 20-year-old’s fourth field goal of the quarter.

Giddey finished the opening quarter with seven points, two rebounds and three assists while the decision to start Green paid off as he offered a shooting threat to space out the floor.

Giddey had two more quick assists as Australia went ahead 33-21.

What made Australia’s opening even to the game even more impressive was the fact Patty Mills didn’t have his first field goal until midway through the second quarter, having carried the Boomers early against Germany. Mills finished the game with 11 points.

Australia was also shooting just 1-of-10 from downtown at that point, although that spoke more to the fact the Boomers were using size mismatches to their advantage.

When the open shots were there though, the Boomers confidently took them as Nick Kay and Giddey hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Australia a comfortable lead just before halftime.

The Boomers may have stormed out to a big lead but there were no signs of complacency early in the third quarter as steals from Mills, Reath and Giddey led to more open looks.

Japan was able to go on a brief 6-0 run, capitalising on a few Australian turnovers before Cooks continued his heavy involvement to set up Mills for a 3-pointer.

While the Boomers’ lead still looked comfortable by the end of the third quarter, Japan pressured Australia into a few poor plays to drawn within 17 points.

The host nation scored 35 in the third quarter after managing that many points in the entire first half.

Japan threatened to make things tense for Boomers coach Brian Goorjian late but Giddey did what all good players do and took over late, scoring nine points to push out the lead.

“Josh Giddey has been first-class,” Gleeson said.