Team USA had to fight hard, but managed to record a come from behind victory by ten points over an Australian Boomers outfit that showed plenty and never went away down the stretch.
The USA came firing out of the gates but it didn’t take the Boomers long to find their rhythm and when they did they put the sword to the Americans, taking a lead out of the first half.
In fact, they barely were behind during the first half as the Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova and Andrew Bogut combination worked an absolute treat. They linked for points, and combined with the Boomers’ defence locking down the paint they went out to the lead.
» Re-live the game and watch highlights of the Boomers
Their biggest lead reached eight points during the first half, about midway through the second quarter.
What was very impressive from an Australian point of view was that on a number of occasions they were able to counter momentum swings. Their effort on the defensive end and execution on offence plus a careful use of timeouts saw them never give up a monstrous run and let the game get out of hand.
In fact, the ten-point final margin wouldn’t have been as large as it was if not for a lack of composure down the stretch and a couple of fouls the Boombers had to commit to try to stop the clock and give themselves a fighting chance.
Carmelo Anthony was the best on court for the USA, and at times was the sole reason they stayed in the game during the first half. Kevin Durant was ice cold, going to the main break shooting two of ten from the field, but Anthony was hitting threes from all over the court and ended the match with 31, including nine from outside.
It took a better team effort in the second half for the USA to get back into the contest, after going to halftime five down – that gap could have been a lot larger if not for a large number of turnovers Australia gave away.
The third quarter saw a complete momentum swing as the American’s outscored the Boomers by eight to take a three-point lead into the final change.
However, it could have been a lot worse for the Boomers as they locked down the paint and made the Americans do a lot of shooting and work from the outside.
A big factor in this was the foul trouble they found themselves in. They simply couldn’t stay in the game with Andrew Bogut, Aron Baynes, Joe Ingles and even David Andersen sitting on the bench.
Andersen was particularly impressive off the bench throughout the match, scoring 13 points and giving Australia a much-needed spark. Cameron Bairstow was another, although his effort mainly focused around the defensive end.
During the final quarter, the game was very bucket for bucket with the USA holding a slender lead for the most part but with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving heating up it was clear the Aussies were going to have a hard time staying in it.
The gap would then go out with Kyrie Irving knocking down a massive three-pointer with about 90 seconds on the clock and the Boomers couldn’t come back fouling their way through the final minute.
In the end, the Boomers fall to the United States of America, but more positives gained out of the match then negatives. It also should be noted this just about wraps up Pool A barring any upsets with the USA taking first and Australia second.
Final Score
United States of America 98
Australian Boomers 88
Match Statistics
2 point field goals: Australia (58%), USA (35%)
3 point field goals: Australia (33%), USA (44%)
Free Throws: Australia (83%), USA (72%)
Offensive Rebounds: Australia (8), USA (21)
Defensive Rebounds: Australia (32), USA (26)
Assists: Australia (23), USA (17)
Turnovers: Australia (16), USA (9)
Steals: Australia (4), USA (7)
Blocks: Australia (4), USA (4)
Fouls: Australia (25), USA (24)
Fast break points: Australia (15), USA (9)
Points in the paint: Australia (44), USA (22)
Bench points: Australia (21), USA (23)
Stats Leaders
Australia
Points: Patty Mills (30), Andrew Bogut (15), David Andersen (13), Matthew Dellavedova (11)
Rebounds: Matthew Dellavedova (6), Cameron Bairstow (5)
Assists: Matthew Dellavedova (11), Ryan Broekhoff (4)
United States of America
Points: Carmelo Anthony (31), Kyrie Irving (19), Kevin Durant (14)
Rebounds: Carmelo Anthony, De Marcus Cousins (8), Kevin Durant (5)
Assists: Kyrie Irving (5), Kyle Lowry (4)
BrainsTrust
Guest
Boomers are the best medal chance, but Kookaburras have more chance of getting a gold medal. Mens Water Polo they are long odds.
BrainsTrust
Guest
Bogut, Della and Mills are at about the 20 mark +/- stats in the NBA for the last season. They would be even higher if you take into account the minutes played. That indicates they have a lot of team qualities that you can't quantify. If you look at their conventional stats don't put them around that mark. as a combination they seem to work incredibly well together. Australia only lost the match because they were out rebounded. Bogut was ginger and didn;t really go after rebounds. Baynes lacked a bit of length to gather offensive rebounds. I didn't see America shooting poorly, their open shots were at 3 pont range. They were terrrible at moving the ball inside, whereas the Boomers got so many free points inside.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Everyone is so happy about the Boomers performance except for the Boomers. They are looking at it thinking they threw away the chance to win that match and are going to have to look at themselves and try work out how to fix their mistakes. In reality, to have that many turnovers, and have the US have that many offensive rebounds, you'd think they'd get hammered. So they did pretty well in other areas to make up for that. But hopefully they can get another shot at the US by winning their remaining group games, quarter final, semi final and coming up against them in the final and can try and match the good aspects of that performance while reducing turnovers and keeping the US off the offensive boards better. Hopefully they can cruise past China and Venezuela in such a way they are able to let Andrew Bogut rest up his knee a bit before the quarter finals.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Lots of American's outside of Cleveland didn't like it when Delly played like that in the NBA finals either!
mariachi band fan
Guest
I really like publicans ?
Scott Pryde
Expert
Yes except that score thingy - but seriously it was a mighty effort and they will be better for it if they take on the USA in the final which is looking a little more than likely. Bairstow was fantastic in defence, really had some impact off the bench - shout out to Andersen here. Without Anthony, i'm not sure the USA would have won that game honestly. Cheers Machooka. Was a great came to call and yeah the prediction wasn't too far off, Boomers just shut down in the final minute or two with fouls.
delbeato
Roar Guru
Absolutely. If you don't believe you can win, you'll end up being humiliated by a big margin. The Boomers believe they can win, they came close and who knows what the result will be next time?
Robert
Guest
Machael you have to believe you have the talent and skill to beat your opponent otherwise players would give up before they even start. That didn't happen. I believe the Boomers might have them in the heart department. I was very impressed by Bogut saying he was disapponted we didn't get the win. Maybe he believes we are as talented and skilled as the USA and not wanting their autographs. I only concede their depth of talent of the bench is better allowing them to be fresher in the last 1/4. The USA sqaud is physically bigger stronger and faster but I disagree more talented at the game of basketball.
Machooka
Roar Guru
Hey, I don't like Republicans. :)
delbeato
Roar Guru
The US are the favorites but it's strange how things can go wrong when you don't bond as a team.
Machooka
Roar Guru
Well done Boomers and what an excellent game... except for the score thingy :) Good to see Bairstow stepping up to meet the challenge in defence... especially now if Baynes and Bogut get pinged early in the upcoming games, and get into serious foul trouble. I thought our physicality, at times, rattled Team USA... and how cool was that. The only one we didn't rattle enough was Melo. And like thanks buddy... couldn't you have dropped those bombs on some other team, in some other game, at some other time? Talk about being on the big stage while hogging all the limelight. Pffff. :)) Also I enjoyed Coach K getting redder in the face the further the game went on... yeah, I'm pretty sure Team USA knew it was in a game, and not some training run. Thanks again Scott for your call this morning... also excellent stuff. Hey, you nearly got your 'three points' scoring prediction eh??
Michael Madelly
Roar Rookie
Let's not get ahead of ourselves by saying Australia have equal skill talent to USA. That's just not true. Australia use their talent to execute better team basketball which is no surprise given there's not one true superstar to lean on. The same definitely cannot be said about USA who have 4 or 5 guys that are number options in their NBA teams so it's harder for them to adapt. In saying this, the USA will always be able to close out games by giving it to one of their clutch superstars ie. Kyrie Irving with that step-back three-point dagger. Australia just don't have someone they can hand the ball and say "Go win us the game". Bottom line is we are still in the pool stages; something the USA never take seriously. I'm not trying to take anything away from the Aussie's because they were incredible but it would be a mistake to think the USA will miss the amount of open shots they did today, especially KD. He wont have another shooting performance like that again in these Olympics. I came into these Olympics thinking a bronze medal match successful or not would be a remarkable achievement, however Im starting to believe a silver medal is the more possible outcome. Go Boomers!
delbeato
Roar Guru
Yeah, this. They want to be respected and don't want to risk getting injured unnecessarily out of season. Delly plays hard at the ball. And, at the man I guess. Lots of pressure by opponents to try and shame him into being nicer. He's not dumb, no need to listen to your opponents on that stuff.
Robert
Guest
What a great game by the Boomers. To think that our boys from little old Australia gave as good as they got against the American self proclaimed dream team. If not for Camilo Anthony's wonderful shooting in the last 1/4 Georgie boy may have been looking for a smaller boat for the trip home? For the record Georgie, Basketball probably rates in your TOP 3 as a national sport. It doesn't rate as highly down in Australia but we give it a red hot go. America is a rich country 11 times bigger in population than ours but our blokes lead for most of the game. They're are all guts, heart and are certainly every bit USA's equal in the skills department. So proud of my countries athletes going for gold at Rio.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Water polo for men - they are third, should make the next stage James.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Best Aussie mens team these Olympics by a fair margin. Hockey and rugby 7s disappointing. Soccer didn't make it and not sure about water polo. Women's 7s are our best team, basketball close, Matildas hopefully building, water polo ok, hockey disappointing.
jameswm
Roar Guru
It's not that they're soft. The NBA is certainly not soft. But they've come here expecting it to be easy and for everyone to bow down and let them win. When a team gets in their face, they don't like it.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Massive qtr final looming.
Kaks
Roar Guru
It was a great effort from the boys who would have made a lot of people stand up and take notice. Once Melo sunk those consecutive 3's in the 4th you knew it would be tough from there, but to their credit they fought back valiantly. This team is a real medals chance in all honesty.
Vance Abreu
Roar Rookie
The Americans proved today how soft they really are. If we do match up with them in the finals (which fingers crossed happens) Ill be expecting the Americans the come out and try to out muscle us. If so thats perfect for us and will make the contest an arm wrestle which will go away from the strengths of the US and right into our wheelhouse