USA assert authority over Australia to reach Olympic basketball gold medal game

Team USA beat Boomers 97-78 in semi-final at in Saitama
Slovenia and France meet in the other last-four game

Team USA progressed to the Tokyo 2020 men’s basketball gold medal match after downing a valiant Australia in their match-up on Thursday. It was heartbreak for the Boomers as they fell to their fifth Olympic semi-final defeat across five decades. The Australians must now regroup for the bronze medal clash on Saturday, as they continue their search for the nation’s first international medal in men’s basketball.

Stretching back to 1964, Australia and the US have met eight times in Olympic competition. The closest the Boomers had come to defeating the Americans was two 10-point losses, in 2004 and 2016. Victories for Australia in a 2019 friendly and in a pre-Tokyo 2020 warm-up match last month offered some hope – as did a positive first-half performance. But ultimately the Americans’ star power was too much for the Patty Mills-led Boomers, losing 97-78.