Boomers fall short of historic victory over USA’s Dream Team

AUSTRALIA’S hopes of the most improbable upset in Boomers’ Olympic history were alive until the final seconds on a night when the national team bravely punched above its weight.

Patty Mills in action during the Boomers clash with USA

AUSTRALIA’S hopes of the most improbable upset in Boomers’ Olympic history were alive until the final seconds on a night when the national team bravely punched above its weight.

The Boomers came up against the awesome arsenal of an American team stacked with NBA megastars at the Carioca Arena and yet more than held their own.

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On a night that the Australian basketball community will cherish for years to come, the Boomers finally succumbed 98-88 after taking the fight to America for four quarters.

With 36 seconds remaining Australia trailed by just four points before Joe Ingles’ jump-shot came up short.

Matthew Dellavedova was strong against the Dream Team with 11 assists

America iced the game at the foul line to flatter the margin but world basketball has a new Olympic darling after the Australians stood tall.

Despite the tight contest with the world’s best, Andrew Bogut believed the team has plenty of improvement left before a potential second meeting with Team USA later in the tournament.

“It was (a great game), but we are disappointed. We had every opportunity to try to push the game. We lost the game. There is no small victories,” the star enforcer said after the loss.

“We have things to work on. We will do that. We lost the game, we cannot sugarcoat it. We believed we could compete and we are disappointed with the result.

“It’s an early round, we have work to do. We may face them down the track. It was a decent performance but we can clean things up.”

It was a night of big dreams that were only extinguished when America seemed on the brink of their first Olympic loss in 20 contests.

At quarter time the plucky Aussies were locked up with America after leading 24-17, but surely it couldn’t last.

Then as Australia went into the long break with an astonishing 54-49 lead, one of the great boilovers was in the wind.

With 8min.50sec on the clock, Australia held the lead at 72-70 and the current Olympic champions were about to be dethroned in a pool game.

Finally the insanity came to an end as a string of Australian three-pointers clanged off the rim and America’s shots finally dropped.

Carmelo Anthony’s nine three pointers - including four daggers in the last period - proved the difference in his fourth Olympic Games.

Carmelo Anthony sunk nine three-pointers on his way to a game-high 31 points

He knows what it is like to lose an Olympic Games after America’s 2004 debacle and with 31 points seemed the only American prepared to stop the rot.

Patty Mills wrecked havoc with 30 points, Matthew Dellavedova racked up another 11 assists (four turnovers), and Andrew Bogut (15 points) also held his head high.

Australia endured America’s lights-out shooting for most of the first period as Anthony’s fluid three-pointers rained down time and again.

The Boomers were slaughtered by an American team that dominated the glass with 21 offensive rebounds.

Yet in all other departments Australia reigned supreme or at least found a way to break even.

From Mills’ scintillating shooting to David Anderson’s electric second quarter to the bench contributions of Chris Goulding and Cam Bairstow, the Boomers clicked.

It was incredible to watch, against an American team that been given due warning that Australia was up for the fight after two impressive pool wins.

What was all the more impressive was that coach Andrej Lemanis was prepared to go so deep into his bench against a team riding a 19-win Olympic streak.

Brock Motum and Damian Martin all got court time in the first half, perhaps understandable given this was effectively a free hit.

Aussie Boomers Vs U.S. Dream Team

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Mills five three-pointers early kept Australia in the contest whenever America looked to settle, with Kevin Durant strangely passive and Klay Thompson hardly used.

America had not been able to draw Olympic commitments from LeBron James, Steph Curry, Anthony Davis and James Harden, but this was still hundreds of millions of NBA contracts on the table.

Yet Australia’s resolute defence and potent attack- so admired by America’s coaching panel as they entered the contest - held up against the best players in the world.

If the Boomers keep winning and finish their pool second they will only meet America in a potential final given the way the draw unfolds.

Even that might have sounded preposterous given Australia’s men have never won an Olympic medal.

But this was a night where even small wins seemed incredible - the Boomers inflicted upon America their first half-time deficit since that terrible 2004 Olympic Games.

Australia has already notched outstanding wins over world no. 5 France and world no. 6 Serbia as it shocks the basketball establishment.

Australia takes on China (world no. 14) at 3.15am on Saturday morning, before finishing its pool games against Venezuela (world no.22) before a quarter final match-up.

If Australia could manage to finish second in its pool it would have still have to beat world heavyweights in Pool B like Argentina or Lithuania to progress to a semi-final.