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Highlights: Boomers denied in semi-final by Serbia's dominant defense

Australia lost a tight bronze medal final to Spain at the Rio games. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Expert
20th August, 2016
13

Serbia have put in a remarkable effort in defence, with Milos Teodosic leading the way, to advance for a shot at the gold medal of the Rio Olympics, beating the Australian Boomers by a massive 26 points.

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Teodosic destroyed Australia on offence, while it was a complete team effort to be physical on the defensive end that led to a fast start, and the Boomers just never recovered or got into the game.

At one point, Serbia led 8-0 and when a timeout couldn’t stop the rot for the Boomers, the first quarter quickly turned into a blowout, Australia only registering five points.

While they managed to stay in the match due to their defence, Teodosic started what would be a fabulous game. He ended with a game-high 22 points and seemed to make the right decision nearly every time he had the ball.

The Boomers shot selection throughout the first half was questionable quite often, and their three-point shooting was particularly bad shooting three of 31 from behind the arc.

Their experienced players, who have led from the front all tournament in Matthew Dellavedova, Patty Mills and Andrew Bogut struggled to get anything going with Mills shooting one of nine from behind the arc.

By halftime, the match already was starting to look out of reach with the Boomers scoring just 14 points and continually being rattled by the defence, led by Miroslav Raduljica and Nikola Jovic.

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The 14 points scored by Australia was their lowest first-half total in history at the Olympic Games.

Apart from Teodosic, the stats were telling with a massive gap in rebounding and turnovers. The Boomers had made 11 turnovers by halftime, and although they improved in the second half they were still out-rebounded 43-30.

Raduljica and Jovic were the two keys on the boards for Serbia, doing a monster job.

The second half saw the Boomers make a marked improvement but they couldn’t get back into the match still being outscored in the third quarter, and not doing much better during the final, only taking three points out of the gap.

Stefan Markovic was one of the players who increased their level of play for Serbia during the second half and he would end up with 14 points in a strong display, while Milan Macvan added plenty to keep Australia well behind down the stretch.

In the end, Serbia way too good with a 26 point victory, leading from buzzer to buzzer and never looking challenged by the Boomers.

Serbia will now take on the United States of America in the gold medal match, while Australia take on Spain and it will be interesting to see if they can get up for that match after being smashed today.

Score

Australian Boomers 61
Serbia 87

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Statistics
2-point field goals: Australia (51%), Serbia (61%)
3-point field goals: Australia (13%), Serbia (31%)
Free throws: Australia (68%), Serbia (78%)
Offensive rebounds: Australia (13), Serbia (10)
Defensive Rebounds: Australia (17), Serbia (33)
Total Rebounds: Australia (30), Serbia (43)
Assists: Australia (14), Serbia (23)
Turnovers: Australia (16), Serbia (18)
Steals: Australia (6), Serbia (9)
Blocks: Australia (4), Serbia (1)
Fouls: Australia (22), Serbia (22)
Fast break points: Australia (13), Serbia (14)
Points in the paint: Australia (32), Serbia (36)
Bench points: Australia (22), Serbia (22)

Stats Leaders
Australia
Points: Patty Mills, Brock Motum (13), Joe Ingles (12)
Rebounds: Aron Baynes (8), Joe Ingles (7)
Assists: Ryan Broekhoff (4)

Serbia
Points: Milos Teodosic (22), Stefan Markovic (14), Milan Macvan (12), Miroslav Raduljica (11)
Rebounds: Nikola Jokic (11), Miroslav Raduljica, Nikola Kalinic, Bogdan Bogdnaovic (6)
Assists: Milos Teodosic, Stefan Markovic (5)

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