Patty Mills shines as Boomers knock over Serbia in Olympic warm-up amid Ben Simmons-Matisse Thybulle storms
Against the backdrop of a cryptic Ben Simmons social media post, the Boomers took World Cup silver medallists Serbia apart, reports MICK RANDALL.
Basketball
Don't miss out on the headlines from Basketball. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Against the backdrop of a cryptic Ben Simmons social media post and a retailer’s fire sale of dumped Olympic bronze medallist Matisse Thybulle’s Australian jersey, the Boomers vanquished World Cup silver medallists Serbia.
Hours before the legendary Patty Mills rediscovered his offensive spark in a vintage explosion in Abu Dhabi, much-maligned Aussie Simmons tagged an image of axed Tokyo rose gold wing Matisse Thybulle in a Boomers’ jersey on his Instagram story with a ‘shrug’ emoji.
And the Aussie Basketball Store slashed the price of Thybulle green and gold jerseys from $105 to $70, leaving NBL media man Felix Von Hofe lamenting “Damn … business is business I guess.”
Damn… business is business I guess. pic.twitter.com/phGqI2jfpf
— Felix Von Hofe (@FelixHofe) July 16, 2024
Thybulle, an NBA teammate of Simmons in Philadelphia, was controversially left off the Paris squad, raising plenty of eyebrows, given the 27-year-old dual-NBA All-Defensive Second Team member was considered a walk-up starter after his key role in Tokyo.
Simmons, of course, was omitted from the Boomers’ 2014 World Cup squad and has not made himself available for the green and gold since — mostly due to injury, sometimes due to personal ventures like trips to Wimbledon with his squeeze of the time.
The 27-year-old has burnt most of his goodwill with the Aussie fanbase but was once seen as the great hope of Aussie hoops. A decade is a long time in basketball, though, and, with Dyson Daniels and Josh Giddey just 21, Josh Green still 23, and a conveyor belt of high-level young talents in the NBA, NBL, college and junior pathways the Boomers have left the door open — but won’t ever beg the Brooklyn Net to walk through it.
To the game, and the Boomers clearly took confidence out of their late comeback against Team USA a night earlier, engaging in a tight 32-turnover slugfest with Serbia and its three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic that they put to bed, 84-73, with a dominant fourth-quarter surge.
Mills’ radar had been malfunctioning in the lead up to the Olympics — 3-21 from the field in three previous warm up games — which naturally led to fears he would struggle to impact in Paris. But the 35-year-old quickly let the world know there’s still plenty to fear in his arsenal with a game-high 28 points to go with five assists and two steals as he ramps up for a remarkable fifth Olympic campaign.
Goorjian admitted he’d heard the talk about Mills’ slow start but remained steadfast in his belief that the veteran guard would improve with every moment on the court.
“No question there’s been a lot of talk and I’m keeping my eyes locked into the team,” Goorjian said.
“He came into this thing, physically, in the best shape I’ve seen him with a motivation to play well and for us to medal.
“The more he plays — he’s been in it through a year that he hasn’t played a lot — so he needs reps, he needs games.
“But you can see, tonight, he’s an important piece for us and he’s highly motivated.”
The 2014 NBA champion drained two three pointers in 23 seconds early in the game, among four makes from deep — more than those three previous games combined — and caused problems for the Serbian defence all night, heading to the free throw line 11 times, where he missed just once.
Leading 39-34 with 47 seconds left in the half, the Boomers must have had one eye on the Gatorade cooler as they took the foot off the pedal and coughed the ball up twice in allowing Serbia to score three quick buckets and take a one-point lead into the long break.
Mills’ best play came with five minutes to go in the game and would prove decisive.
His penetration into the teeth of the Serbian defence as the shot clock wound down ended in a ludicrously difficult kick out to Daniels (8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists) for three, igniting a stunning 12-0 run that wrenched the lead back for good.
He followed that up with a midrange jumper, then stole the ball and was tackled by Ognjen Jaramaz in an ugly unsportsmanlike play, potting the two free throws.
Nick Kay went bang from deep and then the brilliant Dante Exum (15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists off the bench) stuffed one down with both hands to kill off Serbia in a two-and-a-half minute spurt that turned a one-point deficit into an 11-point lead.
Mills said, post-win, the Boomers were “satisfied at where we’re at, right now, but know that there’s a lot of hard work still in front of us to get to our end goal”.
“The best part of this preparation is the quality of games that we have leading into Paris and I think tonight and last night (Team USA), too, was a great example of storing a lot of things in the bank and making sure we put that forward in terms of Paris.
“So, happy where we’re at, we’ve still got a long way to go, though, and we’re going to keep stacking days.”
As nonchalant as ever, Jokic hardly broke a sweat on his way to a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double, while former Sacramento King and 2022 EuroLeague champion Filip Petrusev paced the Serbians with 17.
Tensions simmered throughout the game without ever getting out of hand — up until the last minute when Giddey (13 points, 6 rebounds, 6 turnovers) and Mark Guduric locked up, the bigger Aussie unceremoniously dumping the Serb on his behind. Guduric comically sprung up and caused a little barney to break out, although it was more a collective muscle flex than anything of serious physical note.
‘S**T FIGHT’ IN ‘GROUP OF DEATH’
The Boomers’ Olympic ‘Group of Death’ has, quite frankly, already been done to death, and Mills had a little laugh about it after the game: “Who calls it the group of death?” he asked reporters in Abu Dhabi.
But Goorjian is under no illusions of the “s**t fight” his team faces to exit group A against NBA-stacked World Cup bronze medallists Canada, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece and traditional FIBA powerhouse Spain.
“In the (Olympic) tournament, we’re going to have to defend at a very high level,” Goorjian said.
“If you look at the game(s) last night (Team USA) to tonight (Serbia) we were a lot sloppier with the ball last night.
“All we can do — right now we know we’re in an absolute s**t fight in our group — is just control us being the best version of us.
“Talk’s cheap, you’ve got to do it with your play.
“We grew … and we’re getting better (but) I still think we’ve got a long way to go.”
YOUR 2024 NBL CHAMPIONS, THE … GOLD COAST ROLLERS?
Long time NBL fans might remember the likes of Peter Harvey, Andre Lafleur, Mike Mitchell and Steve Woodberry wearing Gold Coast Rollers green, blue and white.
But, while there are real moves to bring a Gold Coast team back into the NBL, the Rollers haven’t been sighted at the highest level since 1996.
The poor US commentators have been stitched up by Wikipedia, though, with Tasmania JackJumpers star Will Magnay referred to in both games as a Rollers player.
Technically they’re not wrong — the big Boomer has spent the off-season playing in the NBL1 after the successful NBL campaign — but one caller went a step further in the Serbia game, calling the 26-year-old “an NBL champion with the Gold Coast Rollers”.
More Coverage
Originally published as Patty Mills shines as Boomers knock over Serbia in Olympic warm-up amid Ben Simmons-Matisse Thybulle storms
‘Inappropriate grabbing’: Charges flow after spectator brawl
Big penalties loom for two NBL imports after being charged for grabbing at fans during an eye-popping incident in Melbourne last weekend.
Revealed: Homophobic remarks towards 36ers star player
Homophobic slurs against a 36ers star will form part of the team’s submission to the NBL alleging fans made the disgusting remarks during Sunday’s explosive clash against Melbourne United.