The Boomers have earned a consolation 100-84 win over Georgia to finish a short-lived basketball World Cup campaign with a 3-2 record.
Already out of quarter-finals contention because of losses to Germany and Slovenia, Australia did what they could to salvage a failed gold medal tilt with a comfortable victory in Okinawa.
Dante Exum (18 points, four assists) was again confident off the bench, while Duop Reath (16 points, three-of-three triples) shot smoothly as they fended off a Georgian rally early in the final term.
Australia turned the ball over 11 times in a sloppy first half but Patty Mills (19 points, five assists, six turnovers) found his groove with 16 points before the main break.
The 35-year-old helped power a 31-point second quarter, a Joe Ingles triple on the buzzer – Australia’s 10th for the half – opening up a 17-point lead.
Georgia fought back to within 12 points at the final break but Australia found enough stops to halt their run and Exum hit a three-pointer on his return to the game to push the margin out to 20.
Giddey started well and finished a maiden major tournament appearance with 15 points on seven-of-eight shooting.
Australia were 25 points better than Georgia with the point guard on the court, Giddey’s 15 points enough to make him the youngest leading scorer of any country in World Cup history.
World No.3 and Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists Australia, boasting a record nine NBA players, had designs on bettering a fourth place at the last World Cup.
And comfortable wins over Finland, hosts Japan and Georgia showed off some fresh elements to a new-look Boomers outfit helmed by 20-year-old point guard Giddey.
But they fell short in true tests against Germany and Slovenia, Australia’s offence breaking down and their inability to drag in crucial rebounds also hurting them.
Josh Green again showed glimpses of his athletic best while Jack White was given an extended run.
But again coach Brian Goorjian kept veteran sharp-shooter Chris Goulding on the bench until late in the fourth quarter, when exciting 20-year-old NBA guard Dyson Daniels was also introduced.
Attention now switches to the Paris Olympics in less than a year, Australia qualifying for the event by finishing the World Cup higher-placed than New Zealand, who were unable to exit a tough first-round group.
jameswm
Roar Guru
That prediction worked out!
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Ingles had the big knee injury, it was foolish to put him in the squad even. How do you go close to a triple zero with only 2 assists with 26 min on the court.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
This was a golden opportunity to win the whole thing since the USA lost in the group stage, it was ideal Australia coming second in the group if only they beat Slovenia. Serbia on the other hand now will probably win after losing to Italy before the USA loss and thinking they blew it. Germany will be exhausted after their win over the USA and now be beatable.
Gilberto
Roar Rookie
We missed Landale and we desperately could use Simmons since Schroeder tore us apart and Doncic had to be doulbe-teamed leading to open shots. The biggest problem though was we kind of insisted on playing guys who seemed out of form. Kept seeing Kay, Green, Exum & Ingles whilst Daniels wasn't given a run. Reath used sparingly. Sometimes its not your night or your week but we kept persisting with them even though we should have an even team.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
Lack of rim protection & outside shooting hurt us as I expected. As good as Josh Giddey is, he absolutely needs to work overtime on his jump shot. In fact, so do most of our players. Mills aside, all of our guys just can’t shoot and have some of the ugliest mechanics I’ve ever seen. What is going on with our development systems where none of our emerging talent seem to be able to shoot the ball.