Unsung heroes star in Boomers’ upset win over Team USA

Australia stunned Team USA in their Olympic warm up game, but it wasn’t just the usual suspects who got the Boomers over the line.

Dante Exum was awesome for the Boomers against Team USA. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Dare to dream, Australian basketball fans.

After the Boomers stunned Team USA on Tuesday to win their warm up match for the Tokyo Olympics 91-83, hopes of finally winning a medal at the Games appear within Australia’s grasp.

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NBA stars Patty Mills and Joe Ingles were exceptional, leading the charge with 22 and 17 points respectively.

But in a very promising sign ahead of the Olympics, it was the lesser-known stars who stood up and played major roles for the Boomers.

Matisse Thybulle, who plays alongside Ben Simmons at the Philadelphia 76ers, was sensational, scoring 12 points, along with three assists, three steals and three blocks.

Just last month, the 24-year-old was named in the NBA All-Second Defensive team and it showed against Team USA.

Thybulle stunned the basketball world by blocking a jump shot attempt by Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant.

He also impressed fans by sinking two three-pointers.

You can probably count on one hand how many people can block a KD jumper. Matisse Thybulle has been Australia’s heartbeat through two warmup games; he’s the defensive leader (12 total steals/blocks), and has been knocking down some crucial spot-up threes.pic.twitter.com/6jqUFvVwwO

— Olgun Uluc (@OlgunUluc) July 13, 2021

Matisse Thybulle looks like the latest to feel that green and gold jersey take him to a level beyond what he’s been able to show in the NBA.

— Laurie Horesh (@LaurieHoresh) July 13, 2021

Thybulle is such a perfect fit on this Boomers squad 😍

— Chris De Silva (@cdesilva23) July 13, 2021

Team USA just got chopped up by Joe Ingles, Patty Mills, and Matisse Thybulle. Are you kidding me 😂

— Andre Johnson, Jr. (@Andre247Now) July 13, 2021

Chris Goulding, who just won the NBL championship with Melbourne United, was superb off the bench, hitting three-pointers among his 11 points.

Dante Exum, a former No. 5 pick in the 2014 NBA draft, made a promising return to the Boomers line-up after struggling with serious injuries over the past few years.

The big-men trio of Jock Landale, Nick Kay and Duop Reath were also superb on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.

Australian basketball legend Andrew Bogut said he was extremely encouraged by the newcomers to the Boomers’ side.

“You look at some of the pieces we’ve picked up now. Matisse Thybulle to me has been amazing,” he told The Huddle podcast.

Matisse Thybulle showed the Boomers have some serious depth to their team. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images/AFP

“He’s brought more offensively than I thought he would. He’s athletic, runs the wing, he’s getting out in transition and shooting the p*** out of the three-ball helps.

“I’m more excited for Matisse. We know Patty’s going to score, Joe’s going to playmake, Jock does what he does, Goulding, (Aron) Baynes — but Matisse adding that piece in there, that’s what probably excites me most about watching this team.”

Bogut said he was excited by the emergence of the younger players who will take some of the weight off the shoulders of the established stars like Mills, Ingles and Matthew Dellavedova.

“We’re starting to show that we have a lot of different options,” he said.

“Goulding today was huge. That’s the role that I envisioned for him for the Boomers.”

“Just that sprinkling of the youth that we’ve added with Matisse and Josh Green and a few other guys, Duop Reath, I think has just instilled some more energy into our group,” he said.

“And they’re not just young players to be there, they’re actually major contributors to winning basketball games.”

Aron Baynes and Jock Landale were great in their big-men roles for the Boomers. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images/AFP

Bogut, who won an NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2015, was impressed by the understated reaction of the Boomers players after such a big upset.

“It looked like it was just business as usual for us,” he said.

“I wanted to see the guys’ reactions after the game — few little fist bumps, shake hands and back to the locker room, (like) ‘we’ve got a bigger job to do’ — and that’s exactly what you want.”

The Boomers have never won a medal of any colour at the Olympics but will now go to Tokyo confident they can beat any team on their day.

“It was a really good performance by us but on the flip side, the USA look shaky,” Bogut said.

“We are obviously in a great position right now and we’re on a two-game winning streak against them.”

“That’s the mentality you’ve got to have. It was probably 2016 that we had a belief that we can beat Team USA, we can beat anyone on our given day.

“Could we beat Team USA in a seven-game series? You’d probably take the under on that because that’s a tough team to beat in seven games.

“But in any given night like we saw today, they’re beatable.

“And we’ve had that mentality the last couple of campaigns and I think it’s rubbing off on even the younger guys coming in to the squad.”

The Boomers will next take on Nigeria — who also beat Team USA and thrashed Argentina on Tuesday — tomorrow as part of a series of Olympic warm up matches.

Originally published as Unsung heroes star in Boomers’ upset win over Team USA