OK, Boomers! Aussies spring monster upset over NBA All-Stars — but the job’s not done

Australian NBA Stars Patty Mills and Joe Ingles led the charges for the Boomers in a stunning win over a Team USA outfit packed with All-Stars talent, and sent an ominous warning.

Patty Mills was on fire for Australia.

Australian NBA Stars Patty Mills and Joe Ingles led the charges for the Boomers in a stunning tight victory over a Team USA outfit packed with All-Stars talent.

The Boomers hit the front at three-quarter-time as a buzzer-beater three-pointer from Chris Goulding gave them a five-point advantage.

While they briefly surrendered the lead in the fourth, Australia hung on to consign Kevin Durant and Team USA to shock back-to-back defeats.

Australia went on an 11-1 run to ice the game, winning 91-83.

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Mills led scoring for the Boomers with 22 points followed by Ingles on 17. 76ers star Matisse Thybulle was stout in defence, recording a pair of blocks and steals including a huge stuff on Durant, while veteran Goulding played like a “man without fear”.

This is a man without fear. @ChrisGoulding43 doesn’t give a Fk about who is in front of him. 🔥🔥😤#Boomers@BasketballAus

— ᴰᴬᴺ ᴱᵂᴵᴺᴳ (@_DanEwing) July 13, 2021

NBA All-Star Damian Lillard was the main outlet for USA with 22 points including six three-pointers.

While the win in and of itself was impressive for Australia, the real prize remains the Tokyo Olympics.

The Boomers are one-eyed on winning a medal, and won’t accept less than gold. Notably they’ll have to embark on this Olympic campaign without their best player, superstar Ben Simmons.

Speaking after the game, Mills said: “We understand at the start of this campaign that for us to be able to be really competitive and achieve our goals, we need to hang our hat on the defensive end – especially against a team like the US. The get out and make easy lay-ups and dunks, to do that was pretty impressive for our second game.

“We’re not satisfied, we’ve still got a long way to go and can still get a lot better but as I said, defence is where we’re going to hang our hat for the whole campaign.

Team USA now lost 5 times since 2019 (twice to the Boomers), after being unbeaten in 78 games over 13 years prior to that

— Corbin Middlemas (@CorbinMiddlemas) July 13, 2021

♥️🇦🇺🏀! Well done Boomers!

— Andrew Gaze (@AndrewGaze10) July 13, 2021

All-time basketball rankings
1 Boomers Mills
2 Michael Jordan
3 LeBron James
4 Olympics Melo

— James Silver (@JamesSilver3) July 13, 2021

“What a performance by the Aussies in the second half. In the fourth quarter, they were the better executing team on both ends of the floor, but particularly on the offensive end,” US Olympics gold medallist and WNBA champion Kara Lawson told NBC Sports.

“A great win for them. But this is one of the best teams in the world, Australia. So not as shocking I would say as the Nigeria loss in that sense, but certainly we still see the areas of growth that need to happen for the USA in the next couple of weeks for them to win the gold in Tokyo.

“It’s not going to be easy (in Tokyo). This is their sixth day together, so this is a group that continue to need to work on being more consistent. I think it starts on the defensive end for them.“

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Originally published as OK, Boomers! Aussies spring monster upset over NBA All-Stars — but the job’s not done