‘Nightmare game for Mills’: Boomers flattened as veterans struggle

Australia made a dream start to its semi-final clash against the United States but Patty Mills never got going and it eventually caught up.

Patty Mills looks dejected after a rough game for the Boomers. Picture: Adam Head

Australia’s hopes of securing an elusive medal in men’s basketball will rest on a battle for bronze on Saturday after the Boomers were flattened in a 97-78 defeat to Team USA.

The Americans move through to the gold medal game against the winner of tonight’s France-Slovenia clash after fighting back from a 15-point deficit in Thursday’s semi-final.

Kevin Durant was spectacular — particularly when the chips were down — finishing with a game-high 23 points, while Devin Booker added 20.

Jrue Holiday was perhaps Durant’s leading support act as he went close to a triple double with 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

I like how hard Booker, Lavine and Draymond have been playing too. With KD and Jrue that’s our best 5. Would not have predicted that!

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 5, 2021

It was a contrasting story for Aussie star Patty Mills, who struggled with his shot and hit just 5/14 to finish with 15 points.

“Patty Mills has had nothing easy this game,” Andrew Bogut said in commentary during the fourth quarter. “Even the shots he has made have been very, very tough shots.”

“Absolutely,” Andrew Gaze added. “It’s been really tough for Patty Mills.”

This is a nightmare of a game for Patty Mills.

— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) August 5, 2021

Joe Ingles had an equally tough game, scoring just nine points as Australia was outscored by 26 points in his 29 minutes of court time.

Dante Exum was a bright spot as he contributed 14 points and Jock Landale scored 11 but it was the Boomers’ vaunted defence that fell away after such a promising start.

“We came out the right way, but we just had a small patch in the second half where we lost it,” Landale said. “We have to move on to the next game as quickly as possible, see if we can make history.”

Patty Mills reacts in disappointment. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Ingles opened the game with back-to-back threes to give Australia an early 6-2 lead but within four minutes — and the score at 7-6 — he was substituted out in an unusual tactical move by Boomers coach Brian Goorjian, who also pulled Matthew Dellavedova to bring in Dante Exum and Matisse Thybulle.

It didn’t impact Australia’s rhythm as our stars began drawing fouls on Team USA and boosted the lead to 11-6 from the foul line.

It was out to 16-8 after Mills followed a Dante Exum with a lay-up as a lack of cohesion in the USA defence became apparent.

Sloppy turnovers prevented Australia’s lead from growing further as the USA closed to within three points but a Chris Goulding triple on the quarter time buzzer gave the Boomers a 24-18 lead.

A dejected Joe Ingles watches on in the closing moments. Picture: Adam Head

Chris Goulding started the second quarter how he ended the first by nailing a long-range bomb.

Khris Middleton missed a dunk — and then closed out hard on Goulding at the other end resulting in 2/3 free throws and a 29-20 lead for Australia.

“In a league where shooting is worth $10 million plus ... how has Chris Goulding not landed an NBA job?” Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix tweeted.

Australia’s defence was exceptional and with Nic Kay making steals and Exum taking charges the US frustration was growing as the lead ballooned to double figures.

A Durant three-point play settled the Americans but Exum answered with his second triple before Matisse Thybulle scored and added a free throw.

When Exum fed Jock Landale for an alley-oop dunk it was 41-26 and US coach Gregg Popovich was forced to call a time-out.

“This has been a spectacular display by Australia,” Boomers great Andrew Gaze said in commentary. “But you start to question the IQ and the approach by the Americans.

“If they think they are going to play a form of pick-up ball, that’s not going to work here.”

No one could stop Kevin Durant. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP)

Even poorly-run offensive possessions ended in end-of-clock threes for Mills but just when Australia looked like entering halftime with a double-digit lead the comeback began.

After hitting seven of their first 12 three-point attempts, the Boomers missed their next three and Durant took his tally to a game-high 15 points to peg the lead back to three at the main break.

clearly USA basketball is intentionally struggling every first half to get us to tweet our takes to supply them with bulletin board material. Pop is a genius

— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) August 5, 2021

Australia’s offence became stagnated in the second half and the shots stopped falling. The Boomers added just 10 points for the entire third quarter as the lead got out of hand at 74-55.

And there was no coming back.

There were bizarre scenes before play got underway as new Brooklyn Nets teammates Mills and Durant were asked to vacate the court during warm-ups.

Reporter Tim Reynolds said the PA announcer repeatedly asked the players from Australia and the USA to leave the court to make way for the main pre-game attraction — a robot.

The robot can make half court shots. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

“The PA announcer here is trying to get players to clear the court for warm-ups. Patty Mills and Kevin Durant, to be blunt, simply do not care what this guy says,” Reynold tweeted.

“They’re trying to clear the court of Mills and Durant SO THE ROBOT CAN COME OUT AND ENTERTAIN AN ARENA WITH NO FANS.

“Mills left. Durant just left. BUT PLEASE BY ALL MEANS BEFORE A SEMIFINAL AT THE OLYMPICS LET US HAVE THE ROBOT COME OUT TO ENTERTAIN AN EMPTY ARENA.

“Y’all have seen what I tweet for years. Y’all know I have seen some highly dumb things. This one might be all-time. Hey Patty, hey KD, get off the court so the robot can dribble around.”