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.
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
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)
Mike Huber
Roar Pro
Making an NBA championship team qualifys as a star by Australian standards . What are you questioning , we need players of Le Bron's ability to win Olympic Games - I don't think so , neither would any of the Boomers !
Psub
Guest
lol they dont have any stars. They have 1 starter and 4 bench players, most of them are 9-10 men. Raduljica and Teodosic could easily play in the NBA. Bogdanovic is a legit starter in the NBA and will prob start in '18. Jokic is a future all-star. Serbia are playing without 2 of their NBA players.
Swampy
Guest
What they lack is balance. Klay Thompson coming good has helped that - he is their best two way player but is reasonably unselfish. USA basketball has probably built the squad poorly but so many stars dropped out they probably thought they needed to grab everyone that said yes. If you think about some of the great NBA role players they might have added you realise a lot of those guys are from outside of the USA. Regardless it looks as if they'll scratch out a win and take home gold anyway. They've done worse in the past.
Mike Huber
Roar Pro
How can they play above themselves , they are littered with NBA stars ?
Internal Fixation
Guest
Spot on. Delly and Mills have been on fire but sometimes the streak will stop at the wrong time. That's why I am excited about 2020 when we will have star players and role players contributing. Simmons, Exum and perhaps Maker with Mills and Delly playing more like their NBA roles will be awesome.
Arky
Guest
The US picked a team full of great offensive players who rely on role players to support them, but almost none of the role players. There's only one ball. Such an inefficient use of sheer talent. They desperately need a two-way star like Leonard to have come along in the absence of the old guard like CP3, LeBron and Wade.
Arky
Guest
It's a make or miss game, and in single elimination sometimes you shoot unusually badly and they shoot unusually well and that's it. And the worse you shoot, the more you mess up your offence by ignoring good shots you should take, trying to force things, because you lose confidence. Also, this is the difference between guys like Delly and Bogut who aren't used to leading the offence anywhere, and say Teodosic. Sometimes they just give nothing on O. Hopefully they regroup, a bronze would still be fantastic.
delbeato
Roar Guru
The Boomers have played brilliantly up until today and set up high expectations. It's unfair to say they've choked - they've performed above themselves if anything. Serbia played outstanding basketball.
BrainsTrust
Guest
The Boomers did well in the group stage but they never had any intense defense to deal with in the group stages, so were untested in that regard.Lithunia in the quarter finals was softer than the group stage. Given the total lack of preparation becuase of injuries, their team work was superb in the group stages. Australia played all their cards in the group stage , plus they had no extra gear to pull.
Swampy
Guest
Serbia's coaching staff nailed the pre-game plan. And then we beat ourselves. It was obvious they packed the paint and banged mills as much as they could. He couldn't get open. To enable packing of the paint Serbia consciously left Joe Ingles alone outside 3. It was the winning decision. Joe couldn't make them pay and they could keep to their game plan. Add to this Delly having an absolute 'mare & we were done and dusted at qtr time. Australia played great d in the first half but where we couldn't get anything going offensively, Serbia had Teodosic & he scored when desperately required. Congrats to Serbia as they thoroughly deserve their shot at the gold medal. This is the great thing about tournament basketball - you can be kings for a week and a bunny for a day and your tournament is done. I also watched the USA and while the game was destroyed by over zealous officiating the USA were again largely unimpressive. Spain didn't look anywhere near as good as past years and I would give Serbia every chance of winning gold if they can plays as physically as they did today. Teodosic is a marvellous player and it's a great shame we've never seen him measure up in the NBA. He's so much like Manu with his craftiness and understanding of the moment. Today he was needed offensively and he delivered.
Mike Huber
Roar Pro
Me too Jesus definitely hasn't helped them !
me too
Guest
jesus. what is it with team sports and the olympics - just choke after choke or poor coaching and preparation? we peak early and hit the finals spent? we don't do proper homework on the opposition? or we simply can't lift when the intensity goes to the next level. we're the richmond of the olympics!
Brendon
Guest
Nah. The the Boomers did what Australians do best - choke.