HOLY SHIT. The Boomers are one step closer to landing their first ever Olympic medal after a massive 90-64 destruction of Lithuania has propelled them into the semi-finals. It’s the first time we’ve hit the semis in the men’s basketball since Sydney in 2000.
It was a comfortable win, with Australia leading 48-30 by halftime – thanks in large part to Patty Mills sinking constant buckets – and the lead had extended to 27 points by the time they reached the fourth quarter. Boom!
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They’ll be heading into a semi-final showdown with whoever comes out on top in the game between Serbia and Croatia – which is going to be an intense game, as anything between Serbia and Croatia is balls-to-the-wall intense.
Coach Andrej Lemanis says they’ve got their eye on the gold. “We’ve always spoken about gold, and right now we’re not satisfied,” he said.
“When we spoke about that as a goal of ours there were some people who scoffed in the community but we backed ourselves. For us, that’s still our goal. Our goal hasn’t changed.”
Andrew Bogut agrees. “The goal for us has always been the gold medal. We’ll re-evaluate after that. Australia has been in this position other times and finished fourth.”
The fact that we finished second in Group A means that we won’t face down the juggernaut that is Team USA until the gold medal match – presuming both teams keep on winning. As y’all know, we already lost to the USA, but we gave ’em quite an upset that they’re surely still smarting from.
Fingers crossed our lads will get across the line.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Getty Images / Mike Ehrmann.
