Patty comes good as Boomers defeat Finland

Patty Mills came out of his pre-World Cup woes in the Australian Boomers 98-72 win over Finland in the first game of the FIBA World Cup.

Mills’ 25 points led the game in scoring to go along with eight rebounds, four steals and two assists. He also led the game in +/- with +33 in his 29 minutes.

The Finns got out to an eight-point lead in the second quarter where their NBA All-Star Lauri Markkennan was dominating early on as Nick Kay racked up two early fouls.

But the momentum switched when NBA champion Jack White was given the task of guarding the Utah Jazz star. White halted Finland’s momentum, finishing the game with a ridiculous +/- of +25 in only 15 minutes of game time.

Markkennan did end the game with 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block, but he wasn’t the same after White was subbed on.

Josh Giddey made his major tournament Boomers’ debut with a bang. The ‘Thunder from Down Under’ was one rebound and two assists from becoming the first player in World Cup history to have a triple-double.

He was subbed out with six minutes left in the game with 14 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and one steal in 25 minutes game time.

Other key performers were Dante Exum (10 points), Joe Ingles (13 points), Xavier Cooks (nine points) and Duop Reath (eight points).

They now play Germany on Sunday night (6:30pm AEST) who beat Japan 81-63 in their first group game.