Tokyo Olympics: Patty Mills’ swan song as Aussie guard drops a staggering 42 points in bronze medal win
- The Boomers end the Slovenians’ Cinderella charge for bronze by holding off a late surge and collecting a 107-93 win
- Patty Mills, 32, leads the way for his team as Australia claim their first medal in the Olympic Games basketball tournament
Despite a relatively close contest at the end of the first quarter, it was the Australians who managed to pull away late in the second half. The Aussies scored a 107-93 win behind a stellar 42-point outburst from Brooklyn Nets guard Patty Mills in what could be his last Olympic appearance. The United States earlier beat France in the final to take gold.
Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles poured in 16 to go with four three-pointers, while centre Jock Landale added 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting for the Boomers.
Doncic, meanwhile, entered Saturday night’s match-up on the heels of a historic triple-double in Slovenia’s heartbreaking 90-89 semi-final loss to France on Thursday, when he finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 18 assists despite a wrist injury scare after colliding into the scorer’s table late in the game.
The Dallas Mavericks superstar has dominated throughout the tournament, dropping a monstrous 48 points in his Olympic debut during Slovenia’s 118-100 group stage win over Argentina on July 26. He almost single-handedly carried his 16th-ranked squad by averaging 26.3 points per game, the most of any player in the Olympics and one of only five holding a scoring average of more than 20 points per game.
