Boomer Patty Mills welcomes Australia drawing USA at Rio Olympics, saying it boosts our chances of a medal

STAR guard Patty Mills says the Boomers’ hopes of winning a maiden Olympic medal have increased by being drawn in the same pool as the USA’s “Dream Team”.

Patty Mills is excited about the Boomers’ chances in Rio.

STAR guard Patty Mills says the Boomers’ hopes of winning a maiden Olympic medal have increased by being drawn in the same pool as the USA’s “Dream Team”.

Mills won’t settle for anything less than a medal in Rio and believes the Boomers are good enough to win gold.

An early test of Australia’s medal credentials will come in their third game of the tournament – a clash against gold medal favourites America.

“This is going to be good for us,” said Mills, who won an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.

“In the past the Boomers haven’t been in the USA’s pool, which means the crossover game, the sudden-death, is pretty much always against them.

Patty Mills is excited about the Boomers’ chances in Rio.

“This time we’re in the same pool, which is better … and they can be beaten. With the group that we have, we believe that we can beat them.”:

And it’s not just the strong Boomers’ squad – which also includes the likes of Matthew Dellavedova, Joe Ingles, Aron Baynes and fitness permitting Andrew Bogut – that has Mills confident of upsetting the Americans.

The “Dream Team” will be missing star pair LeBron James and Stephen Curry, as well as a host of other first-choice players.

“Someone’s going to need to beat them at some point to able to get over the line.” Mills said.

“They are still a very strong side with the players they have … but we’re going to give it a red-hot crack ¬ that’s for sure. The goal that we’ve established, so let’s us aim for that.

“To be able to achieve greatness we need to be able to beat greatness, and that’s what we see with the USA team, with France and the other powerhouses.”

Mills said proof the Boomers brand had grown internationally was the team’s inclusion in the new NBA 2K17 game which is being released on September 16.

“The Australian national team will be involved in the (video) game for the first time ever,” Mills said.

“It’s just exciting on and off the court, the buzz around basketball in this country, whether it’s on the court or whether it’s in some video games – it’s really good.”

Originally published as Boomer Patty Mills welcomes Australia drawing USA at Rio Olympics, saying it boosts our chances of a medal