Illness has again struck the Australian basketball team with Aleks Maric and Steve Markovic failing to train ahead of Sunday night's knock-out match against Slovenia at the world championship in Turkey.
Both are suffering from a virus and back-up guard Markovic is unlikely to play, while big man Maric will probably suit up but clearly won't be 100 per cent in a major blow to the Boomers' chances of upsetting the Slovenians.
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Starting centre David Andersen is also still struggling to regain full health, having missed Australia's last group match against Angola, while Markovic already missed an earlier game against Argentina.
The Boomers had their final training session on Sunday morning ahead of the match in Istanbul (starts 0100 Monday AEST).
"I don't believe Steve will play, I think Al will," Boomers coach Brett Brown told AAP.
"Absolutely it's a blow. You cry for time with your team.
"The whole preparation has been tough because of the illnesses.
"We had a little bit of daylight where we had a chance to get the group together, but it's just part of tournament play.
"If we can get through this one tonight we have a few days off to get both Dave and Aleks healthy."
If the Australians can defeat Slovenia, they will then face the winner of Sunday night's late match between hosts Turkey and France on Wednesday.
Slovenia, who boast plenty of offensive weaponry and finished second in Group B behind the United States, are firm favourites but Brown has confidence in his team.
"I hope we've put them in a good defensive game-plan," he said.
"We feel comfortable with the direction from a strategy stand-point.
"It's very clear it's a defensive slugfest versus offensive firepower from their perspective.
"It's a tale of two very different styles and we'll see which one comes out on top."





















