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The Boomers will draw on the home-crowd energy when they face the might of the United States on Thursday night at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium.

The Boomers will draw on home-town energy when they try to overcome 55 years of futility against the might of the United States.

A record Australian basketball crowd of 50,000 is forecast for the much-hyped Thursday night match at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium.

Australia coach Andrej Lemanis and Boomers mainstay Matthew Dellavedova emphasised that the two exhibition games against the Americans this week are only steps along the way to the World Cup in China.

But Thursday and Saturday night boil down to one question: can the Boomers finally beat the US?

The Americans have won all 25 games against Australia since 1964.

Lemanis said the players relished the home support in last week's two Perth games against Canada.

"It certainly should ensure we play with energy and bring the grunt and intent and all that sort of stuff," Lemanis said.

"You could feel the energy of that Perth arena, once we started making some plays and the crowd got into it.

"Even some of the boys spoke about (it). 'I'm going up to shoot, I could feel the energy of the crowd, wanting me to make the shot'."

The Boomers have not had an ideal lead-up, losing Jonah Bolden after the Canada games.

He is the latest big name to make himself unavailable with the Philadelphia 76ers forward citing personal reasons.

But Lemanis and Dellavedova said his replacement David Barlow brings plenty of experience and defensive pressure.

The two-time Olympian will miss Thursday night's meeting because of a back injury but Lemanis expects him to play in game two.

"It's fine if you manage it intelligently and, while he would like to play, we will manage it intelligently and let him play on Saturday," Lemanis said.

Barlow said it is a massive honour to return to the Boomers.

"I haven't been to a major tournament in a while and I always dreamed of getting back here, so in that sense it's like a dream come true," he said.

"When I got that call, it was a fairly emotional time.

"I never say never. I didn't think it was highly likely but I always dreamt for the best."

Despite several roster changes, Dellavedova said the Boomers had come a long way in the past few weeks.

"Everyone in sport is used to distractions, especially playing in the NBA something is happening every other week," he said.

"Everybody knows what we're focused on and what the main goal is, so I don't think anything is going to get in the way of that.

"The group's dealt with a lot in the last couple of months, in the last few years, and everyone is experienced."