Australian men's basketball coach Andrej Lemanis has urged his squad to sustain their high level of play ahead of Sunday's FIBA World Cup qualifier against Taiwan.
Fresh off Thursday night's 84-68 victory over the Philippines, the Boomers head into Sunday afternoon's clash in Melbourne, knowing a fourth-successive win would secure their place in the second round of Asia zone qualifying.
"I thought we had a nice practice which reflects the positive mood within the group," Lemanis said at the completion of Saturday's training session at Margaret Court Arena.
"We did a lot of good things (against the Philippines) though, perhaps early on, we weren't rewarded because we missed a lot of lay-ups and easy shots.
"But I thought we did a nice job of staying with the process and believing that, over the course of 40 minutes, that would serve us well and it proved to be the case."
The Boomers claimed a comfortable 104-66 away victory in November over Taiwan but their opponents will be buoyant after a crucial 70-69 defeat of Japan on Thursday to remain in contention for the second round of qualifying.
Lemanis was not surprised by Taiwan's performance in Japan and expected a tough assignment on Sunday. New addition Ying-Chun Chen, a versatile guard with 15 points against Japan, joins 203cm centre Quincy Davis as players to watch.
"They've added a couple of players that play in the Chinese league ... obviously, they've got Davis who is a handful and they do a nice job playing together," he said.
"They run their sets well; they know where they want to get the ball; they go to their advantages so they are going to be a good challenge coming in."
While the 38-point margin in their last meeting indicates Australia has Taiwan's measure, Lemanis has stressed his squad must take advantage of their depth and ability to sustain high-pressure defence over 40 minutes to maintain their unbeaten record in Group B.
"People don't perhaps appreciate the quality of international basketball and everybody around the world is pretty good at the game," he said.
"You are not going to come out and beat everybody by 50. You need to work your way into the game and be prepared to do the work and that's the same thing on Sunday.
"At the end of the day, we are playing for our country and our guys play with a fantastic pride."
