‘Group of death’ is an often-overused expression.

Nowadays, it’s bandied around to the point where it loses its meaning, which is supposed to be something along the lines of: a group that features an unusual amount of competitive teams, with not enough qualifying places to absorb them all. Too often, though, we’ll see the term used to describe a group that’s likely to be just moderately difficult.

Well, it’s no hyperbole to say that, for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Australian Boomers have been drawn into the group of death; the ‘group de la mort’, even.

All four teams drawn into Group A are widely considered as good enough to not look out of place as part of the final eight quarterfinalists, and there’s an argument to be made that medaling is a realistic goal for each of them. The group features Australia — who are the reigning Olympic bronze medallists — alongside Canada, Greece, and Spain.

Canada is led by the duo of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray, with a host of other NBA talent that has them widely regarded as the team that’s most threatening to Team USA. Greece is spearheaded by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has a legitimate argument as the best two-way player on the planet; while Spain has historically always been a contender in major tournament basketball and, once again, has a competitive roster.

“We know we’re in an absolute s–t fight in our group,” Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian said this week.

He’s not wrong, and those other nations will also be extremely wary of Australia, who are led by a flurry of NBA talent and have put together some impressive showings over their pre-Olympic exhibition game schedule. Josh Giddey was impressive as the Boomers’ lead guard at the 2023 FIBA World Cup and is rounding back into that form, Patty Mills appears to be re-finding his usual FIBA rhythm, the addition of Jock Landale is an immense boost, while Dyson Daniels, Josh Green, and Danté Exum all look to be key pieces for Goorjian’s group.

The preparation is complete and those warmup games are done with, so it’s onwards to Lille, France for the Boomers, who are about to be confronted with a baptism of fire.

Spain

This is the Boomers’ first game of these Olympics, and it says something about their group that it may be the easiest matchup they’ll have over the entire campaign.

That’s because, while the Boomers may be slightly favoured in this game, Spain is still quite a formidable opponent. They earned a spot in Paris through the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT), where they got the best of the Bahamas to book a ticket in Group A, and are in a similar position to Australia when it comes to where they are in their slow-but-inevitable transition between generations. Spain isn’t as daunting as the iteration of its team that won the 2019 FIBA World Cup — there’s no Gasol brother or Ricky Rubio to be seen — but their consistency as a high-level basketball nation means they can’t be understated.

The Spaniards are led by Willy Hernangomez, the seven-footer who practically does the entirety of his work down low. The big-man averaged 18.2 points per game for Spain at last year’s World Cup, and was their leading scorer over the recent OQT. Santi Aldama — the versatile Memphis Grizzlies forward — has also emerged as a prominent piece for Spain over the last few years, forming an imposing partnership alongside Hernangomez by bringing more of a three-level scoring threat to that frontcourt.

The difference for Spain going from last year’s World Cup to these Olympics, is the addition of Lorenzo Brown, the American-born guard who currently plays his domestic basketball for Panathinaikos. Spain has generally always had high-level perimeter initiators who excel in the international game running the show for their national team — from Juan Carlos Navarro, to Jose Calderon, and Rubio — and, with the 36-year-old Sergio Llull being solid but at the back-end of his career, Brown is this tournament’s iteration of that. Spain missed that creation at the World Cup, but got it in spades from Brown in the OQT, where he averaged 12.3 points and 7.5 assists per game, so he’s an extremely important part of what this team does. Case in point: Spain played a warmup game against Argentina this week, with Brown sidelined due to rest, and they had a lot of trouble getting into their actions effectively; having that dynamic creation from the 33-year-old changes a lot for them.

What Spain does is largely resigned to the halfcourt, so the advantage Australia has is their athleticism and intent to push the pace. The Boomers’ halfcourt defence looked largely impressive over their pre-Olympic schedule, but that’ll be put to the test against a well-drilled Spanish team that’s full of players who, for the most part, play in the EuroLeague, so they all operate in similar types of schemes all year round. Stops are key for the Boomers, who’ll want to relentlessly play at pace and put heat on the rim, and probably involve the slower-footed Hernangomez in as much action as they can. Because of the matchup, Usman Garuba has the potential to play a significant role for Spain, with his athleticism and defensive positioning likely to be needed against this up-and-down Australian team.

There’s no out-and-out star or go-to guy for Spain. It’s generally all done by committee. Don’t be surprised to see head coach Sergio Scariolo go 10-deep, which includes Rudy Fernandez, who’ll be competing in his sixth Olympics; a feat no other basketball player has achieved.

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Canada

There are many reasons why this matchup with Canada is so daunting.

The first is Shai Gilegous-Alexander, the Canadian point guard who was top-three in MVP voting this past NBA season, and enters these Olympics as one of the best players in the world. The 6’6 guard is the head of the snake for Canada, finishing top-five in scoring at last year’s World -Cup – 24.5 points per game, to go with 6.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists a contest — helping his team to a third-place finish.

He’s then flanked by Jamal Murray — the Denver Nuggets star who’s playing in his first major tournament for Canada — forming arguably the most talented backcourt in the tournament.

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Surrounding Gilgeous-Alexander and Murray are a smorgasbord of athletic three-and-D type of players, from Luguentz Dort, to RJ Barrett, Dillon Brooks, Andrew Nembhard, and Nikeil Alexander-Walker. This Canadian team — coming off a third-place finish at last year’s World Cup, with Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernández at the helm — is athletic, dynamic, and have the positional size and defensive versatility to cause problems for the majority of teams at the Olympics. That means they match up particularly well with the Boomers, who have stylistically similar but less credentialed players in those positions, and want to operate with the same sort of pace Canada does.

The biggest weakness for Canada is, without question, their big depth. Kelly Olynyk is a high-level FIBA big-man, but there’s no real imposition with the centres they’ll roll out, which includes Dwight Powell and Khem Birch. The Boomers had a lot of success attacking the rim against Team USA in their exhibition game matchup — they had 68 points in the paint — and it would make sense to employ a similar strategy in this game; put heat on the rim in transition, bring Canada’s bigs out of the paint to defend on-balls, while also making a concerted effort to feed Jock Landale down low.

This is also a matchup where Goorjian may choose to alter the starting lineup. Daniels is the obvious matchup on Gilgeous-Alexander, but Canada will likely play small — Barrett and Brooks at the three and four — so having another wing defender or two on the floor would make sense. It’s likely we see one of Green or Exum enter the starting lineup for Kay, or both in for Mills.

They key to this game may actually be getting a win over Spain in the first game. The prospect of entering what’s likely to be their toughest group matchup knowing it’s effectively a must-win game is definitely a scenario the Boomers would love to avoid.

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Greece

All of these matchups offer a different challenge for the Boomers to solve, and the Greeks are no exception.

Of course, a good chunk of the Boomers’ bandwidth going into this game will be on Antetokoumpo, and how best to contain the two-time NBA MVP.

The 6’11 forward is an imposing post option for Greece, but he particularly excels in transition, where he has the capacity to grab the ball off the rim on the defensive end and push the pace. While that’s no surprise from Antetokounmpo, we’ve seen him struggle in the halfcourt in the international game at times over the years, so, being able to witness, for example, how Greece was able to counteract that by playing fast in their OQT semifinals when they blew out Luka Doncic and Slovenia, is a helpful point of reference.

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In the halfcourt, Antetokounmpo is still a focus for Greece, and is made wildly effective because of who head coach Vassilis Spanoulis has surrounded him with. Nick Calathes is an experienced international point guard who does a great job controlling the pace of the game, while the rest of the team is filled with credentialed shooters and scorers. Thomas Walkup is a proven FIBA scorer — the 6’5 American guard plays for Olympiacos, and is Greece’s naturalised player — as is Calathes, while Giannoulis Larentzakis is also a high-level spot-up shooter.

Even the team’s starting centre, the 7’3 Georgios Papagiannis, is developing a reliable-enough three-point shot that you have to get out to it. Greece made 43.5 percent of their three-point looks over their OQT, and they were getting up 31 attempts a game, so using Antetokounmpo’s gravity to widen the floor for their shooters is a crucial part of how they’re successful on the offensive end.

The expectation would be that Nick Kay gets the first crack at Antetokounmpo, while Landale takes the Papagiannis assignment. During the Boomers’ warmups games, they’d often send the double on the catch when guarding Nikola Jokic or any of Team USA’s bigs, so don’t be surprised if they do the same here. As far as wanting to put size and general toughness onto Antetokounmpo, Will Magnay may be the next best option for the Boomers; he guarded Victor Wembanyama in stretches in Australia’s warmup game vs France, so there seems to be some trust putting him on those sorts of bigger bodies.

The key for the Boomers will likely be two-fold here. The first is to limit live-ball turnovers; that was Australia’s Achilles heel against Serbia in their exhibition game in Abu Dhabi and they were made to pay. Greece wants to get points in transition and semi-transition, so the Boomers’ defence starts with their offence. Then, it’s about stopping the Greeks at the point of attack. Antetokounmpo and Papagiannis are efficient scorers inside the paint, so it would do the Boomers a world of good if Daniels and co. can stifle the ability for the likes of Calathes and Walkup to bring the ball up the floor and effectively get into their sets. The Boomers did this extremely well against France in their final warmup game, picking up full court against weaker guards, which made it difficult for their elite bigs to get involved in the action.

This will be a unique game. The Boomers will probably enter this matchup as the more talented team, but Greece will have the best player on the floor, so you can’t rule anything out.

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Australian Boomers’ group phase schedule (AEST):

July 27: Australia vs. Spain @ 7pm.

July 30: Australia vs. Canada @ 9:30pm

August 2: Australia vs. Greece @ 9:30pm.

How to get through the group phase:

There are three groups of four teams.

Group A is: Australia, Canada, Greece, and Spain.

Group B is: France, Germany, Japan, and Brazil.

Group C is: USA, Serbia, South Sudan, and Puerto Rico.

Within each group, each team plays each other once, all taking place at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, which is just over an hour train ride north of Paris. The top two teams in each group, as well as the two best third-placed teams, will advance to the quarterfinals.

The two best third-placed teams will be determined based on overall points differential.

The quarterfinals mark the beginning of the knockout portion of the Olympics. All games from the quarterfinals onwards will take place at the Bercy Arena in Paris, beginning on August 6.