Andrew Bogut slams refs after Australia’s controversial loss to Spain
EMOTIONS ran high after Australia fell one point short of winning its first basketball medal in a highly controversial finish. Andrew Bogut lashed out.
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THIS one hurt. Up by one point with nine seconds to play against Spain in the bronze medal game, Australia needed just one defensive stop.
Sergio Rodriguez drove the ball straight at Patty Mills and after his lay-up attempt span out a whistle all of Australia thought wasn’t going to come rang out across the stadium.
Back-up point guard Damian Martin leapt off the bench and yelled: “No!”
But the call had been made. Rodriguez was sent to the line and calmly sunk both free throws to give the European powerhouse the lead. “I tried to get something off the penetration,” Rodriguez said. “I saw Pau (Gasol) coming on the left and I tried to make a basket. I have to check on the screen but that’s (the foul) what the referee called. I know during the game there were many fouls the referees didn’t call on our side.”
Still there was hope for Australia. Mills had been sensational all night, capping a fine tournament with a 30-point outing. His childhood dream of hitting the game winning shot to win his country a medal was lining up perfectly.
It couldn’t have gone worse. Joe Ingles in-bounded the ball to David Andersen and dived towards the rim hoping for a return pass and a cheap basket. But Rudy Fernandez was wise to the move and kept his body in between Ingles and the ball. So the second phase of the play — a hand-off to Mills as he scooted around the three-point line — was our only hope.
But Ricky Rubio was wearing Mills like a glove, so Andersen decided to pull the ball back up above his head to a position of safety and reassess his options. As he did a passing Rubio flung out a hand and knocked the ball loose. It bounced towards Matthew Dellavedova but he was swamped by two opponents and couldn’t gain possession. Game over.
Post-game Mills was still focused on the defensive end. “Everyone dreams of making the game-winning shot to win a medal for their country but what we were saying is we were one defensive stop away,” Mills said. “We thought we played good ‘D’, we knew what play was coming and we stuck to the scheme and the call didn’t go our way. With five seconds left it’s frustrating not to even get a shot up but they played great ‘D’, they busted that play up and full credit to them that’s what they did throughout the whole game.”
For one of the finest performances ever produced by our national team to end in these circumstances was heartbreaking.
The offensive frailty which had been exposed in a semi-final defeat against Serbia was again a problem early as Spain opened up a double figure lead in the second quarter. NBA veteran Pau Gasol was doing as he pleased on offence, Nikola Mirotic was bouncing back from a subpar effort against the US and Rodriguez and Fernandez were also making plays.
In contrast, it was Mills and not much else for Australia. Andrew Bogut played spirited defence from the outset but racked up foul after foul and after picking up his fourth early in the third quarter, couldn’t get out of the game.
Rubio sensed an opportunity to eliminate one of the Boomers’ biggest weapons and dived almost full-length into Bogut under the basket and got the call. “The sub was there,” Bogut said. “Unfortunately they superman-dived into me and the referees bought it, as usual.”
Bogut was gone but still Australia refused to wilt. Brock Motum and Ryan Broekhoff made a huge impact off the bench and after two Andersen free throws with 29 seconds remaining Australia had a 86-85 lead.
But a touch foul on Aron Baynes resulted in two quick free throws to Gasol and after Baynes answered with a left hook which bounced on the rim but fell through the net it came down to those final two plays.
The Boomers took different approaches when asked about the refereeing after the game. Bogut was typically outspoken, labelling some calls “absolutely ridiculous”.
“We battled tonight but at times we were outnumbered out on the court,” he said. “It felt like we were playing a different sport at times.”
Andrew Bogut: "Questionable calls all game. That's FIBA basketball. Wouldn't expect anything less from the refs."
— Hoops_Heaven (@Hoops_Heaven) August 21, 2016
Coach Andrej Lemanis was more politically correct, but you could read between the lines. “It is frustrating when their last four points come from the foul line on what you would suggest were relatively soft calls,” he said. “A two hands on foul [on Baynes] … I’m sure if you look at that last possession there were two hands on all over the place. It’s what you choose to call and what you choose to let go … It is hard to swallow.”
Mills was magnanimous. “It’s part of the game,” he said. “Calls go your way sometimes and sometimes they don’t. Today they didn’t and you live with it. There were other opportunities throughout the game — we made some of those opportunities and others we didn’t.”
#Boomers got robbed... Absolutely robbed. That last foul was the worst call I've seen in a while. Literally 1s after any legal contact. Smh
— Carson Maddocks (@cmaddogz) August 21, 2016
Just watching the #PattyMills foul call again and it's unbelievable how late it's called. Ref waits until Rodriguez hits the floor. #Boomers
— Matt Turner (@mattturner1986) August 21, 2016
So for the fourth time Australia finishes without a medal after making the semi-finals of an Olympic basketball tournament. The promise of adding the likes of Ben Simmons, Dante Exum and Thon Maker to this program will offer hope, but that’s a separate journey.
The bulk of the team playing last night had been chasing this goal for several campaigns and some won’t be around next time.
Lemanis’s own future is also in doubt if it’s decided the Boomers need a fulltime coach and his commitments in the NBL rule that out. But as this group of players has done since they came together, he knows what to do.
“It’s all about the team,” Lemanis said, breaking into tears. “We’ll do what’s best for the team.”
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