Team USA had a tough challenge defeating the Australian team today. After the game, Paul George mentioned that it may have been because the Boomers played dirty.
From Tony Harper of Fox Sports:
“We knew that coming in – this team has a knack for being a little dirty.”
“We just had to match their physicality,” said George. “That’s what we had to do. That’s the only way a team is going to get us out of our comfort zone is to muddy the game, doing little stuff to get to us.”
While Patty Mills doesn’t have a reputation of being a dirty player in the NBA, Matthew Dellavedova and Andrew Bogut do.
Early in the game, George helped set the tone by getting in a stare down with Delly. The game was very physical, and the two undefeated teams went after it.
Did the Australian’s have a response to George? Boomers assistant coach Luc Longley:
Boomers legend and now assistant coach Luc Longley fired back in response: “Tell ‘em that’s international basketball.’’
International play is more physical than the NBA, and Australia used that to their advantage against the United States. Obviously, Team USA has a lot of pride, and they weren’t going to allow Australia to get away with it. They also played physical, and eventually their pure talent got the best of the Australian team.
