The Boomers have nearly pulled off a shock comeback win against a stacked US team in their Olympic warm-up in Abu Dhabi, but will still continue their Paris build-up hugely encouraged by a impressive display.
Having trailed by 24 points midway through the third quarter Australia cut the deficit to six with 5:05 left after a 39-21 run.
Even after Tyrese Haliburton landed a brace of three-pointers, pushing the lead back to 92-80, the Boomers kept battling and twice trimmed the gap back to four before the US struck late to win 98-92.
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Jock Landale led Australia’s scoring with 20 points, with strong contributions from Josh Giddey (17) and Dyson Daniels (14).
‘I give Australia a ton of credit. They were great. They fought. They were really physical. Took it to us in the last quarter-and-a-half and really made it a game,’ said US coach Steve Kerr, who is combining the role with his post at Golden State Warriors.
The difference was depth.
Australia’s starting five were Patty Mills, Josh Giddey, Daniels, Nick Kay and Landale, all but Japan-based Kay being NBA players.
The US began with an elite quintet of Steph Curry, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, LeBron James and Anthony Edwards.
And they backed it up with Haliburton, Jrue Holiday, Bam Adebayo, Anthony Davis and Devin Booker.
That was the group on the floor when the Americans took a game that was tied at 19-19 with 3:15 left in the first and turned it into a 39-23 lead — a 20-4 run in a span of just over five minutes.
By halftime it was 53-37
‘The strength of our team is our depth and we have to utilise our depth,’ Kerr said.
That extra quality showed in the willingness to try, and ability to land, three pointers. The US scored 12 three-pointers, from 29 attempts (41.38%), Australia succeeded in four from 18 (22.22%).
The Boomers fought back by forcing turnovers, getting 25 points off them in the second half alone.
‘Third quarter, we started turning the ball over,’ Kerr added. ‘We gave up a ton of points at the basket. The game shifted. It’s a good lesson for us.’
For the US Davis scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Booker 16 points, Anthony Edwards 14 and James, Adebayo and Embiid 10 each.
The Boomers play their final warm-up against Serbia on Tuesday (0200 AEST Wednesday), also in the UAE.
