Via FIBA: After four fourth-place finishes in the past, Australia finally leave the Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament with a win. This time, they’ll come home claiming bronze, their first medal in men’s basketball.
The Boomers came ready to run against Slovenia, not slowing down for a minute, and let Patty Mills do his thing offensively. With the shooting guard in fine form, Australia won the game 107-93 and ended the Slovenian fairy tale run into and through the first four games of the Olympics without a place on the podium.
Coach Brian Goorjian’s men join the gold medal-winning Team USA and the silver medalist France to round up a rostrum of teams from three different continents.
Turning point: It was a three-point game late in the last minute of the first half, but then Matisse Thybulle happened. He was on the receiving end of a Patty Mills assist, dunking down while fouled. Thybulle followed this up with a successful defense on Luka Doncic, then he dunked it at the buzzer, sending the teams to the locker room at 53-45.
Australia did not allow Slovenia to get back into the game the rest of the way, and once the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 champions came to within three in the fourth quarter, Dante Exum, Patty Mills and Joe Ingles all made big shots to enter the final 3:00 of the game at 97-86.
There was no comeback for Slovenia after that, despite Doncic’s sensational triples.
Game hero: Patty Mills was very vocal about wanting to finish with a medal around his neck, and he showed what a team leader should do in a game like this one.
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