Boomers Throw Down Gauntlet to USA in Tokyo Semi

The Australian Boomers thew the gauntlet down to the USA like never before at an Olympic Games but NBA superstars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker wouldn’t be denied leading the Americans to the 97-78 semi-final win.

The Boomers had been ultra-impressive so far at the Tokyo Olympic Games winning group phase match ups with Nigeria, Italy and Germany before a commanding 97-59 quarter-final victory over Argentina on Tuesday.

USA hadn’t been as impressive or emphatic and even lost in the group phase to France, but their form had been building including a strong quarter-final win over Spain to set up the semi-final match up with Australia.

No longer in awe of the NBA superstars given the majority of the Australian team have now played in the NBA, the Boomers came out and delivered a stunning start to the game to build serious belief that a spot in Saturday's gold medal game was genuinely possible.

When Chris Goulding hit a three on the quarter-time buzzer, the Boomers were up by six and when the Melbourne United captain opened the second term with five quick points, suddenly the Boomers led by nine.

Dante Exum helped grow that lead to double-figures and suddenly after a Matisse Thybulle three-point play and Jock Landale strong finish off an Exum alley-oop pass, the Boomers led 41-26 and they turned the onus back on the United States to respond.

Unfortunately for Australia they did, closing the first half with the last eight points, starting the second with the first 12 and holding the Boomers scoreless for the opening four minutes of the second half.

From there, the USA were feeling it and they were able to get out in transition and turn it more into an NBA-style game rather than a FIBA one, and the likes of Durant, Booker, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton loved every moment of it.

From the point Australia led 45-34 late in the first half, the USA scored the next 20 points straight and outscored the Boomers 63-33 to end up winning 97-78 to qualify for Saturday's gold medal match with either Slovenia or France.

It's not all doom or gloom for Australia. The Boomers will now play in Saturday night's bronze medal match against the loser of Slovenia and France. 

Fresh off signing a new deal to join Kevin Durant at the Brooklyn Nets, Patty Mills again led Australia's scoring with 15 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals.

Dante Exum continued his exciting Olympics campaign with 14 points, four rebounds and two assists while the San Antonio Spurs big man Jock Landale put up 11 points and six assists in front of his new coach Gregg Popovich.

Joe Ingles finished with nine points for the Boomers, Chris Goulding eight points, four rebounds and three assists, Nick Kay seven points and four boards, Matisse Thybulle six points, Nathan Sobey five points and three assists, and Duop Reath three points.

It was a proud Boomers coach Brian Goorjian yet a realist in terms of the pure talent from the USA they were up against.

"I’m certainly not going to be in the room with my head hung. We showed what the Olympics is about, you’ve got an opportunity to show what your team and country is about,’" Goorjian said.

"We’re scrappers and we’re a team that gets the most out of what we’ve got. We try to play basketball the right way and when you’re talking about our performance right now – I loved the way we played.

"I thought we did it right, the problem was trying to do that for 40 minutes against a team like this. The addition, from when we played them last time of (Devin) Booker, Holiday and Middleton just gave them more bite."

Kevin Durant finished with 23 points and nine rebounds for the USA with Devin Booker adding 20 points, Khris Middleton 11 and Jrue Holiday 11 to go with eight rebounds and eight assists.

Two threes from Joe Ingles gave Australia the ideal start to the semi-final before Dante Exum and Patty Mills saw the Boomers grab all the momentum leading 16-8, and then still 24-18 by quarter-time thanks to a three on the buzzer from Chris Goulding.

Things continued to look promising for Australia in the second quarter and you could feel the confidence in the team, but also the nation rising that history could be about to be made.

Goulding hit a three and pair of free-throws to open the second quarter, Nick Kay knocked down a jumper and then Exum scored to make it a double-digit lead.

Exum's three soon after combined with a Matisse Thybulle and-one and then Exum to Jock Landale alley-oop made it a 41-26 lead and the Boomers were rocking.

They were still up 45-34 just before half-time too, but then the USA started to make a stand. Jayson Tatum hit a three as part of an 8-0 American run to close the half.

The game then took a turn that it would never recover from to start the second half with the USA scoring the opening 12 points while holding Australia scoreless for four minutes. 

Six straight points from Devin Booker soon after had the Americans up by double-figures before they closed the third quarter with another 9-0 run to be up 74-55.

Australia fought out the game valiantly including five quick points to Mills and the same from Nathan Sobey, but it was too late now as the Boomers went down by 19 to now focus on winning bronze.

TOKYO OLYMPIC GAMES BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
SEMI FINAL

AUSTRALIAN BOOMERS 78 (Mills 15, Exum 14, Landale 11)

USA BASKETBALL 97 (Durant 23, Booker 20, Middleton 11, Holiday 11) 

BOX SCORE