Australian Boomers push Team USA to brink in Olympic thriller

THE Boomers took the game right up to Team USA’s NBA megastars before going down in a thriller at the Rio 2016 Olympics, with Carmelo Anthony and Patty Mills starring.

Australia vs USA.

THE Boomers can dare to dream of an Olympic gold medal after pushing almighty Team USA all the way in an epic group stage battle at Rio 2016.

Australia lost 88-98 to the reigning Olympic champions but won more admirers on the world stage as they backed up impressive wins over France and Serbia with one of their greatest performances.

The Boomers led by two points early in the final quarter and the US had to pull out all stops to get the job done, led by veteran Carmelo Anthony (31 points 11/21 shooting, nine threes 9/15 shooting).

Patty Mills was phenomenal for Australia, notching 30 points as big guns Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova stood up yet again. Bogut was disappointed by the result.

Patty Mills was enormous for the Boomers v Team USA. Picture: Adam Head

“We had every opportunity to push that game ... we still lost the game, it doesn’t mean anything,” he told Channel 7.

“I know people are proud of us an we’re not supposed to beat these guys ... but we believe we can beat them and we lost the game.”

Team USA entered the contest on a 70-game winning streak, including exhibition games, and a streak of 19 in the Olympics dating back to Athens 2004. They’d beaten the Boomers in all seven encounters dating back to 1964.

Despite leaving superstars including LeBron James and Steph Curry at home, nobody was given a hope of matching it with them in Rio but an Australian side packed full of NBA talent held no fear, and it showed.

The time will come

— Ben Simmons (@BenSimmons25) August 11, 2016

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It initially looked it could be a long night for the Boomers as Team USA came out flying, hitting back-to-back three pointers to open the scoring and dominating the boards.

The Americans hit seven first-quarter threes – five from Anthony – but Australia steadied in defence and began to hit the mark offensively.

Bogut was immense at both ends of the court, his first quarter highlights including a huge alley-oop dunk served up Dellavedova and a vicious block on Kyle Lowry.

The first quarter ended level at 29-29 and the cheers from the small pockets of Australian supporters in Carioca Arena grew louder as Australia built on their brilliant start in the second quarter.

Carmelo Anthony’s three-point shooting was lethal to Australia.

The outstanding Mills finished the first half with 15 points, including four three-pointers, and made some huge defensive plays as Australia limited the Olympic champions to just 34 per cent shooting accuracy in the first half. David Andersen added great quality off the bench and the Boomers took an unlikely five-point lead into the main break.

The USA quickly wiped out that margin, scoring the first nine points of the second half with Kevin Durant warming up after a poor first half. But Australia battled back in a thrilling third-quarter shootout.

Australia hit the lead again early in the final quarter but the US began to hit their straps courtesy of Anthony and Kyrie Irving. They stretched the lead to eight points late but the Boomers kept fighting, taking the game to the final minute.

Andrej Lemanjis’ Australian side had talked itself up as a gold medal contender and this performance vindicated that confidence. An upside of the defeat is the likelihood they can’t meet Team USA again until the gold medal match.

Originally published as Australian Boomers push Team USA to brink in Olympic thriller