On Saturday Night August 7 2021, Australian Men’s Basketball History was made!
Patty Mills led our Australian Boomers to a Bronze (or Rose Gold as the boys are now calling it) medal against a gallant Slovenian side led by superstar Luka Doncic, running out victors 107-93
Patty was nothing short of phenomenal on the night (and throughout his entire Boomers career), going for 42 Points and 9 Assists.
Absolutely no one was standing in his way of getting the boys onto the podium in Tokyo, a games which started with him being joint flag bearer with Cate Campbell.
That makes winning a medal at these games that much more special for him and the team, who’s had a permanent residency in 4th place for far too many campaigns.
Gold has always been the goal for this team, who knows they’re good enough to knock off the might of Team USA (and showed this in big patches in the semi-final), but the pure relief of winning this medal after falling at the final hurdle at 4 Olympics, as well as the 2019 worlds, was there for all to see!
This medal wasn’t just for the members of this current Boomers squad.
It was for all who have tried before them, and built this culture that the boys speak so strongly about.
Andrew Gaze, Luc Longley, Shane Heal, Andrew Bogut. There’s been plenty of big names who have come through the doors of the Boomers facility and were unable to get onto the podium.
They were very much a part of this medal, and you only had to watch vision of Andrew Gaze post game to show how much this meant to him.
There wasn’t a dry eye in this house hold that’s for sure!
Joe Ingles stepped in to help Patty when we needed it most, with a few timely 3s at the back end of the 3rd and 4th Qtrs, coming up with 16 Points, 9 Rebounds and 4 Assists.
Jock Landale showed us why he was just recently signed to the Spurs, with 14 Points of his own.
Dante Exum won’t be a Free Agent for much longer, as he went toe to toe with Luka Doncic, going 4/5 from the field (2/3 from 3) to go for 12 points on the night.
Dante played a huge role in limiting the Slovenian superstar to 22 points (7/20) on the night, clearly irritating him defensively, and not backing down to one of the brightest stars on the planet.
One moment in that game will stick out for a long time as an exclamation point to that game, was the breakaway dunk from “Aussie Matisse” right on Half Time.
Thybulle took off from another area code to finish with 2 hands on the half buzzer to give the Boomers an 8 point lead going into the half, and huge momentum going into the 3rd.
Thybulle was brilliant all tournament and bought into the Boomers culture immediately.
He never over played his hand, he played his role to perfection, and showed the world just how elite he is on the defensive end of the floor.
Matisse gave us something we’ve never really had at the Boomers, which is an all-out athlete at both ends of the floor, someone who can play above the rim offensively and completely lock you up defensively.
He was a HUGE reason why this team got themselves on that podium in Tokyo, and no doubt will be a big piece in our future plans for the next Worlds in 2023 and Olympics in 2024 in Paris.
There’s no need to look ahead and wonder what this team will look like in 2023/24 for the time being.
Let’s just soak this one up Boomers Fans.
We finally did it!
Bauky