Patty Mills blazed Australia into their first Basketball World Cup semi-final, starring again as the Boomers beat the Czech Republic 82-70 in China. The shooting guard finished with 24 points and six rebounds, 13 points coming in the first quarter in Shanghai where both teams struggled early but Australia flourished late.
Andrew Bogut (10 points on five-of-six shooting) played his best game of the tournament, turning the game in Australia’s favour in a decisive third term. It means a rematch with Spain in Bejing on Friday for a spot in Sunday’s final, the Spanish having denied the Boomers a bronze medal with a one-point win at the Rio Olympics.
Awaiting the winner in the decider will be one of France and Argentina, after both teams managed huge quarter-final upsets to oust the United States and Serbia respectively. It marks the first time in a World Cup that neither the US or Serbia – or formerly Yugoslavia – have not featured in the final four.
The Boomers lent heavily on Mills in the first half, but made six first-quarter turnovers to allow the plucky Czech side into the contest. Mills kept firing away in the third before his assist for a Jock Landale dunk made it a five-point game.
Lock down defence on the next play led to a Chris Goulding triple and they were finally up and about. Bogut then made plays at both ends to dull the boos, the Australians in the crowd responding with “Andrew Bogut” chants of their own.
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Goulding then hit two more triples, with Tomas Satoransky’s (13 points, 13 assists, nine rebounds) dunk on the buzzer making it a 15-point game at the final break. It quickly became an eight point game but a time-out was followed by an Aron Baynes left-hand alley-oop to stop the run, and Bogut made a series of lay-ups to ensure the Boomers collected a sixth-straight Cup win.