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The Australian men’s wheelchair basketball team has been given a stark reality check by a switched-on Netherlands side in their first game of the Paris Paralympics, beaten 66-55 in front of a full house at Bercy Arena.
The Rollers had a perfect lead in to the tournament but looked out of sorts against the European Championships bronze medallists, who punished the Australians’ turnovers and rode the coattails of centre Mendel Op Den Orth, who scored a game-high 26 points.
“It felt a little bit clunky and obviously a tad disappointing,” captain Tristan Knowles said.
“We’ve had a phenomenal year in terms of preparation so we obviously expected a lot better from our performance tonight. A couple of key assignments went wrong offensively. We’re never going to win games scoring 55-odd points.”
Australia led 30-28 at half time on the back of 40 percent for the three-point line and a six-point run late in the second quarter.
However, the Netherlands maintained their pressure after the break and with three minutes left in the term led 42-35 courtesy of an eight-point run and 44-40 at the final break.
The final quarter was intense. But the Dutch held their nerve and squeezed the Australians out of the match.
When coach Brad Ness called Australia’s final time out, with 3.03 remaining, the Dutch had built a commanding 62-48 lead and there was no coming back.
“It was very cool looking up in the stands, lots of green and gold here,” Knowles said.
“I know from messages back home we had lots of people get up early to watch us. Stay with us and we’ll do our best to get a win tomorrow against Spain.”
Watch the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on the 9Network and 9Now live and free, and on Stan Sport from August 28 to September 8.
By: David Sygall, Paralympics Australia
Published: 30 August 2024
