Goorjian's Boomers outlast Spain in opener

If the Australian Boomers needed any extra motivation heading into their Olympic opener against Spain, they didn’t need to look too far.

The double-overtime loss in the 2019 World Cup and a controversial finish at the 2016 Rio Olympics still sit fresh in the mind of the players who were there at the time, and if the newer Boomers didn’t yet understand their significance, Sydney Kings' Brian Goorjian quickly changed that.

The master coach revealed he called on those heartbreaking moments to get his team “locked in”, and it clearly worked.

In a game that threatened to boil over at various times, the Australians were switched on. This one meant a lot.

“We showed a little video of the past to have them locked in,” Goorjian said after the 92-80 win on Saturday night, Australian time.

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“There’s a fear that no matter how much you outwork or outplay, in a three-minute period they (Spain) can go ‘whack, whack, whack’ and you’re in trouble.

“They made two heavy runs at us and then took the lead. I thought we were fearless and were courageous, and I thought we had great guard play … just a good contribution from everybody.”

The victory went a long way towards avenging those memories of the past, and put the Boomers - who also have Kings physio David Hillard on their staff - in a strong position so early in the tournament.

With games to come against Canada and Greece, Australia will be desperate to finish in the top two of the ‘pool of death’, or be otherwise become reliant on qualifying as one of the ‘next best’ teams.

The Boomers don’t have to wait too long for their next challenge, taking on a highly-fancied Canadian outfit on Tuesday at 9.30pm AEST.