Olympic Basketball: Australia Continues With Strong Form In Upset Of Serbia
For three quarters the result was in the balance, then in the fourth quarter Australia pulled away from the higher-ranked Serbia, winning 95-80 in their Group A game at the Rio Olympic basketball tournament.
Australia (ranked 11th in the world) continue to play well in the Olympic basketball tournament in Rio de Janeiro, beating another higher-ranked opponent in Serbia (ranked sixth in the world) to gain its first ever 2-0 start to an Olympic tournament.
Serbia was another opponent who had to get to Rio through the qualification tournaments. Like France the game before, the Serbs been playing together longer prior to this tournament than Australia.
Fortunately for Australia, with the exception of the injured Dante Exum and the unavailable Ben Simmons, this team has been together for a number of years. Their play showed this.
Both of Australia’s starting guards were awesome. Patrick Mills scored a game-high 26 points and Matthew Dellavedova added 23 points and 13 assists in a starring role.
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Australia’s big men also performed superbly, Andrew Bogut scored nine points, including a massive three-point basket, to go with12 rebounds, six assists and three timely blocks, highlighting the big man’s importance to the Australian team.
Aron Baynes was again at his junkyard dog best, doing the grunt work down low and scoring 10 points while collecting seven rebounds.
Joe Ingles found his form with 10 points, three rebounds and five assists, showing the versatility that the Utah Jazz have valued in the two years that he has been a part of that team.
As a team, Australia has defended really well against both France and Serbia. I will go on record as saying that Team USA will face its toughest group match against Australia when the two meet on Thursday. That will mean that the U.S. might only win by 30 against the men from down under.
Serbia, for the first three quarters, played like a top-six team in the world. They were in the game thanks to the sensational play of Bogdan Bogdanovic who finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists, keeping the Australian defense guessing with his ability to shoot, pass or drive.
Milso Teodosic, the Serbian captain, played well, scoring 17 points but his 5-of-14 shooting did not help the Serbians, That could be a bigger problem against Team USA, which is masterful at scoring off opponent’s misses.
Miroslav Raduljica played the best for the Serbian team, scoring 25 points on 7-of-13 from the field and an impressive 11-of-13 from the free throw line. Unfortunately he was ineffectual on the boards, only collecting one.
Nikola Jokic was a non-factor, scoring only seven points and collecting three rebounds.
The team stats were very close, so how did Australia win by so many? The answer is simple, they shot better. Australia was able to shoot 58 percent from the field, Serbia only shot 47 percent.
From beyond the arc Australia shot 36 percent compared to Serbia’s 23 percent. If Serbia is going to challenge for a medal, it needs to improve these numbers.
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Next up for Serbia is a clash with France. Australia has a slightly more challenging task of Team USA. Every Australia vs. USA game at the Olympics in memory has started with both teams having to play hard, but I can’t see Australia staying with Team USA.