Boomers gear up for Tokyo by beating USA

Do you think Patty Mills is desperate to help lead Australia to a medal in Tokyo? The Olympic flag bearer was again instrumental in a stunning 91-83 win in Las Vegas from the Boomers against USA Basketball as the preparation for The Games heats up.

The Tokyo Olympics now gets underway in just 10 days and the preparation for the Boomers is well on track at the exhibition tournament this week in Las Vegas despite an injury scare from Monday night (Tuesday morning AEST time) against the USA to big man Aron Baynes.

However, fresh off hitting the walk off three-pointer in spectacular fashion back on Saturday night (Sunday afternoon) against Argentina, Mills again put the Boomers on his back in the fourth quarter against the USA.

Australia did find themselves nine points down at half-time with Damian Lillard on fire for the United States with 16 points as the Portland superstar knocked down four triples, but this Boomers team wasn’t going away even without Baynes who hurt his knee early on.

The Boomers' run in the third term wasn’t with Mills on the floor though. They closed the third quarter on a 19-6 run to go from being down six to leading by five on the back of a trademark three on the buzzer from Chris Goulding.

Mills then took over late with 10 points in the final five minutes of the game as the Boomers scored the last six points to end up winning 91-83 at Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

It might not quite have been as historic or dramatic as the win two years ago at Marvel Stadium of the USA in the lead up to the World Cup from the Boomers, but it is a significant confidence booster for their medal prospects heading to Tokyo.

Ahead of his fourth Olympics campaign, Mills put up 22 points and four assists for the Boomers but as a team, he credited the defensive performance in the second half to keep the USA team from getting out in transition.

"It was all about our defence," Mills said.

"We understand that at the start of this campaign that for us to be really competitive and to achieve our goals we need to hang our hat on the defensive end especially against a team like the US. 

"For us to take away their athleticism where they like to get out in transition to make easy baskets and dunks that was pretty impressive for our second game. 

"But we are not satisfied and we know we can still get a lot better and our focus is going to continue to be to hang our hat on defence for this entire campaign."

Another soon-to-be four-time Olympian, Joe Ingles had 17 points, four rebounds and three assists for Australia with Matisse Thybulle again showing exciting signs at either end with 12 points, three steals and three assists.

Chris Goulding showed that his shooting translates to the international stage with 11 points on 3/5 from deep with Duop Reath contributing nine points and three rebounds, Nick Kay eight points and nine boards, and Jock Landale eight points and seven rebounds.

Team USA might still have Devin Booker, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday to join them after the NBA Finals, but this wasn’t exactly a squad lacking superstar firepower either as they lost a second game in Las Vegas after Saturday night's defeat to Nigeria.

Damian Lillard finished with 22 points on 6/11 shooting from deep while Kevin Durant had 17 points while going 4/9 from downtown. Bradley Beal finished with 12 points while Draymond Green was influential late defensively to try and lift USA to the win.

Joe Ingles caught fire early on for the Boomers knocking down three triples in the game's opening minutes. With Patty Mills scoring a couple of times too, Australia led 13-7.

That only appeared to wake up Blazers gun Damian Lillard who would hit three triples of his own in the opening period for 11 points and put USA Basketball on top 27-24 after one.

The Americans threatened to pull away throughout the second quarter and led by 11 just before half-time when Lillard knocked down a fourth three-pointer. But Mills at least had the margin back to nine when he scored on the buzzer.

Despite a Kevin Durant three for USA to open the second half, Jock Landale hit a couple of good baskets down low and when Matisse Thybulle connected on a three ball, the Boomers were back within four.

A Chris Goulding three and then Nick Kay bucket then had the margin one and a Duop Reath three-pointer suddenly had scores tied heading towards three quarter-time.

It was then CG43 time and the Melbourne United two-time championship winning captain finished the third quarter with the last five points to put the Boomers up by that margin.

Team USA was always going to make a run and triples from Zach LaVine and two from Durant leading to a Jayson Tatum score had them up 82-80 wit 4:30 on the clock.

But it was Mills time from there for the Boomers as he scored seven of the Boomers' last 11 points as they finished on an 11-2 run to take away the 91-83 win. 

The Boomers are back in action on Tuesday night in Las Vegas, Wednesday 11.30am AEST, against Nigeria before another clash with USA Basketball on Friday night (Saturday morning).

LAS VEGAS BASKETBALL EXHIBITION
TOKYO OLYMPICS WARM UP

AUSTRALIAN BOOMERS 91 (Mills 22, Ingles 17, Thybulle 12)

USA BASKETBALL 83 (Lillard 22, Durant 17, Beal 12) 

BOX SCORE