Earlier in the Olympic games, Australia looked like one of the best teams in Rio. They opened group play with two dominant wins, including a stunning upset over France, then gave the Americans their first big scare. They were widely believed to be Team USA’s biggest challenger for the gold medal. All they had to do was get by Serbia in their semifinal round.
But Serbia is no pushover themselves. Despite a couple of earlier losses, including a 15-point drubbing at the hands of the Boomers, they came within three points of toppling the U.S. juggernaut. Now, after their 87-61 blowout of the Aussies on Friday, they’ll get another shot at Team USA in the gold medal game on Sunday.
Serbia played their best basketball yet in the semifinal round, while Australia played its absolute worst. Milos Teodosic was sensational, scoring 22 points and dishing out five assists, while Stefan Markovic added 14 points and five assists as well, while shooting perfect from the field.
Patty Mills led the way for Australia with 13 points, but he was a brutal 1-of-9 from behind the arc. Andrew Bogut, who’d been so spectacular throughout the tournament, had his worst game by far, scoring just four points on 1-of-4 from the field while struggling through foul trouble. They got even less from Matthew Dellavedova, who finished with three points on 1-of-6 shooting.
The Australians got off to a horrendous start, managing just five points in the opening quarter, and another nine before halftime, and were never able to recover from there. Serbia held them to just over 33 percent shooting overall and 4-of-31 from downtown.
Their gold-medal showdown with the United States is something of a rematch of the 2014 World Cup of Basketball in Spain, where Serbia ultimately fell short. Tip off is at 2:45 p.m. ET on Sunday.
