The Boomers are out of the Paris Olympics despite a Herculean performance by Patty Mills in their nail-biting 95-90 quarter-final loss in overtime to a Serbian side carried to victory by NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.
The Aussies were down by six in the final quarter and surged back to have three straight chances to hit the front in the final couple of minutes but missed on each occasion.
Down two with 9.8 seconds left, the Boomers forced overtime after a super tough Mills jumper over Jokic made it 82-82 with the 35-year-old guard just getting his shot off in time to beat his outstretched arm and rattle into the basket.
But Jokic was dominant in the extra period with clutch defensive plays and an ice-cool turnaround jump shot to close out Serbia’s dramatic victory to advance to a likely semi-final against the might of Team USA.
Jokic tallied 21 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and four steals as the Denver Nuggets centre willed his team almost singlehandedly to the finish line while Mills landed 26 points on 11/21 shooting and Giddey racked up 25 points, five rebounds and four assists but showed he is not quite ready to lead Australia to a medal with seven turnovers.
It’s sacrilegious in Australian basketball circles to question the legend that is Brian Goorjian but the coach needs to wear a fair share of the blame for this defeat – his reliance on Matthew Dellavedova over NBA guard Josh Green, coupled with the selection of Joe Ingles even though he did not play a minute in the tournament, contributed to the team’s heart-breaking exit before the medal rounds.
Dellavedova logged 11 scoreless minutes while Green was barely used for just a few seconds.
Dyson Daniels also failed to trouble the scorers in 20 minutes despite displaying plenty of defensive hustle while Jock Landale was ineffective with five points after early fouls led to his match finishing before the end of regulation time.
Australia’s offence was brilliant in the first two quarters with Josh Giddey running the point and Mills couldn’t miss.
But when the Serbians readjusted their defence to limit Giddey’s playmaking and Mills’ space, the Boomers’ attacking firepower was virtually non-existent.
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Giddey looked, well, giddy in his first possession as he spun at halfcourt bringing the ball up and fell to the floor to cough up a clumsy turnover.
But he showed goldfish memory to dish off a behind the back pass with his next play then hit a jumper, drive to the hoop twice and assist Dante Exum to do the same for a 12-8 lead which forced Serbia to burn a timeout.
Bogdan Bodanovich hit a three over his future Atlanta Hawks teammate Dyson Daniels but Jokic was unusually quiet in the early exchanges at Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille.
The match was nearly seven minutes old when the three-time NBA MVP registered his first bucket but Boomers spark plug Jack McVeigh responded by hitting his first three off the bench.
“FIBA Patty” was back swishing shots inside and outside as the green and gold surged to a red-hot 31-17 first quarter lead.
This was the kind of Boomers ball that the players and fans had been expecting to see at the Paris Olympics, not the sluggish side that scraped into the quarters after a 1-2 record in the group stages.
The break did not halt the momentum with a Mills baseline jumper followed by McVeigh firing a bullet pass for Duop Reath to rattle the rim.
Mills was up to 18 points on 7/8 shooting less than three minutes into the second quarter as the Boomers blasted their way to a 41-20 blowout.
A Reath three prompted another Serbian timeout and a stinging spray from disgusted coach Svetislav Pesic, who channeled his inner Joe Pesci as he tore strips off his players courtside.
They responded by cutting the deficit to 11 using some dubious tactics, including an all-time flop from guard Aleksa Avramovic who somehow survived the slight bump from Will Magnay that he tried to portray as a drive-by assassination attempt.
A Giddey long bomb and an Exum three-point play turned the momentum back to the Boomers for a 54-37 lead before the Serbians reduced the gap to 12 on the stroke of half-time.
The Boomers’ high-risk ploy of doubling Jokic was mostly paying dividends with the masterful centre only able to conjure up four assists to go with his 11 first-half points.
Apart from Mills, no Boomer was an offensive threat and a couple of threes midway through the third quarter meant the lead was down to just four and Brian Goorjian put a pause on proceedings.
Mills turned the ball over from the timeout as the Serbian defence continue to swarm all over him and a three to Miami’s Nikola Jovic shrunk the gap to a single point.
The 19-6 run, sealed by a Bogdanovic baseline jumper, put the Europeans up with three minutes left in the third.
After his pathetic flopping effort early, Avramovich was booed again after shoulder-charging Exum for an unsportsmanlike foul which was 100% bush league.
Giddey came up with some clever plays but also some pointless turnovers as the Aussies turned for home down 67-65 heading into the final quarter.
Serbia sprinted out to a six-point advantage but Exum and McVeigh kept the Boomers within range and it was 78 apiece with three minutes left after a Giddey corner three.