Australian Boomers to play Serbia in semi-finals of Rio Olympics
THE Boomers’ Olympic semi-final opponent has just been decided, with Australia to face a rival they beat in the group stage for a shot at the gold medal game.
AUSTRALIA will play group opponent Serbia in the semi-finals of the Rio Olympics, as they chase a historic berth in the gold medal game.
With the Boomers having smashed Lithuania 90-64 in their earlier quarter-final, Serbia accounted for Croatia 86-83 in the last final-eight battle. Australia v Serbia will be played on Saturday at 8am AEST, according to the FIBA website.
Australia beat Serbia 95-80 in pool play.
Serbian forward Milan Macvan said the Boomers will be no pushovers.
“They beat us and they’re a very experienced team, very tough team,” he said. “They play very hard, so we’re expecting another tough game.
“For sure we know each other. There is nothing to hide. They have so many NBA players but we are going to play tough, like we do all the time. We’re going to try and be aggressive and win that game.”
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USA beat Argentina 105-78 and will play Spain in their semi in a rematch of the London 2012 and Beijing 2008 gold medal games (both won by the Americans). Spain beat France 92-67 in their semi.
USA v Spain will be played on Saturday at 4.30am AEST, according to FIBA.
Beyond that, the bronze medal game will be played on Monday at 12.30am AEST, with the gold medal match at 4.45am AEST.
The world rankings of the final four are USA No.1, Spain No.2, Serbia No.6 and Australia No.11.
The Australians have been in superb form in Rio, with NBA stars Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova especially impressive.
Bogdan Bogdanovic was Serbia’s go-to man today, scoring 18 points and notching five assists. Bojan Bogdanovic led Croatia’s scorers with 28 points.
USA TO PLAY SPAIN
NBA star Kevin Durant scored 27 points and defending champion USA advanced to the Rio Olympics semi-finals by ripping Argentina 105-78, booking a date with revenge-hungry Spain.
The Americans stretched their Olympic win streak to 23 games and their 10-year overall win streak to 74 since losing to Greece in the 2006 World Championship semi-finals in Japan.
After their slimmest wins in the Olympic streak -- three-point group-stage triumphs over France and Serbia -- the US NBA stars started slow but showed top form against a veteran foe.
“I think we got our swagger back,” US guard Paul George said. “We were confident shooting, we were aggressive, we kept our poise.”
European champion Spain routed France 92-67 to reach a semi-final with a USA side that beat them 107-100 in the 2012 Olympic final and 118-107 for 2008 gold.
“We face them everyday in the NBA,” Spain guard Ricky Rubio said. “We know how tough it’s going to be.”
Originally published as Australian Boomers to play Serbia in semi-finals of Rio Olympics