Melbourne Boomers know they have talent and basketball IQ, now they hope to fast-track their team cohesion ahead of a showdown with Canberra Capitals in Geelong on Friday night.
The Boomers have four members of the Australian Opals who claimed the silver medal at the FIBA Womens World Cup earlier this month and also include WNBA import guard Lindsay Allen.
But the team didnt have any of those players for much of their lead-up and that lack of team understanding showed in their shock loss to Bendigo Spirit in the opening round of the WNBL last weekend.
The Capitals have had their own injury and availability concerns, but they were able to claim a first-up win beating Sydney University Flames as rising WNBA star Kia Nurse dominated just days after arriving in Australia with 26 points.
Boomers coach Guy Molloy is still buoyant about his sides chances despite the “strange” lead-up to the season with captain Jenna OHea and star signings Cayla George, Ezi Magbegor and Steph Talbot away with the Opals until just before the season.
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"When we reviewed the opening game the general theme was we were two steps out of position and a second late," Molloy told Fairfax Media on Wednesday.
"We know we won't be one of the teams who will fastest out of the gates this season, we will probably be one of the laggards, but there is still a lot of talent and basketball IQ on this team and we know we can get things to work pretty quickly."
Slowing Nurse will be a key for the Boomers as will restricting proven stars Kelly Wilson and Kelsey Griffin.
"Nurse is a pretty powerful athlete, she gets in the passing lanes and does all the effort things quite well then is a strong finisher and a good shooter – all the things you would expect of a WNBA star," Molloy said.
The Boomers didn't have shooting guard Maddie Garrick last week as she continued to recover from an ankle sprain suffered during pre-season.
Garrick trained for 30 minutes on Tuesday and the Boomers will give her every chance to prove her fitness for Friday night's game although she won't be rushed back.
Maddie Garrick has to prove her fitness if she hopes to play on Friday night.Credit:Mick Connolly
"We will leave it as late as we can to make a decision on Maddie for Friday's game but it's more likely she plays on Sunday against Sydney," Molloy said.
The Boomers have made appearances in country Victoria in recent seasons and Molloy coached in Ballarat for several years so knows the importance of these games.
“What I learned in Ballarat is that all sports are pretty much competing for the same athletes so basketball needs to do a good job of promoting the sport,” Molloy said.
“We are really encouraging people around Geelong and over the west side of Melbourne to come to the game.”
The Boomers host Canberra Capitals at The Arena, Geelong on Friday at 7.30pm.
Roy Ward is a Sports writer for The Age.
