BOOMERS MEDAL AND MAKE HISTORY

The Boomers created history on Saturday night defeating Slovenia, 107-93, to win Australian men’s basketball’s first ever Olympic Medal.
Captain Patty Mills produced a performance for the ages, sinking a game-high 42 points as he led his team and country to a bronze medal in Tokyo.

It was the Boomers’ sweetest moment after

finishing fourth, having lost the bronze medal game on four occasions.

Mills, in his fourth Olympics having carried the Australian flag at the opening ceremony a fortnight ago, was bursting with pride and emotion post game.

“We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time and it’s taken a lot of experiences, a lot of ups, a lot of downs for us to get over the hump,’’ he said.

“It’s our culture at the end of the day, the Australian culture, our Aussie spirit, the boys being able to hang together and realise what it means to be able to represent your country, for it to come pouring out in moments like this."

“Now that we’ve made it over the hill, this is the standard now of Australian men’s basketball and we take nothing less. We say ‘gold vibes only’ is the standard and we won’t accept anything less on the court or off the court."

“I don’t know whether to laugh, cry or smile. A lot of emotions."

“It’s time to bring an Olympic medal back to our country Australia so I can hang it at mum and dad’s house.”

Coach Brian Goorjian paid tribute to Lindsay and Andrew Gaze for how much they have put into Australian basketball. 

Goorjian said "this has taken 12 years of work to do something that our country has never ever done before. The feeling is unbelievably special. I've never felt as knotted up on game day, it tells me how big this is."

Ingles when questioned about playing with Mills said  "Patty and I went to the AIS together from when we were 16, every summer for 12 years we have come together to build towards this moment. We have pushed each other its always been such a focus for us, it's so special to be able to do it with Patty. Patty bought it home for us, he isn't just a hell of a basketball player, he is a hell of a great guy.  It's a pleasure to share the court with him."

On Aron Baynes missing the game, Ingles said "he has been a huge part of this for a long time, we love Bangers and wish him a speedy recovery."

 
Australia 107 (Mills 42 points, Ingles 16, Landale 14, Exum 12, Thybulle 11) defeated Slovenia 93 (Doncic 22, Prepelic 18, Tobey 13, Blazic 12)
 
 
The Last Word
with
Brad Newley, 2x Boomers Olympian (2008, 2012)
“As a proud Australian kid growing up dreaming of winning an Olympic medal to achieving the dream of actually competing at an Olympics now watching again at home with my own family it feels like we now have something to show for years of effort. Feels like a huge weight is off our sport’s shoulders.

Those guys should be so proud of what they’ve done and there wouldn’t be one ex-Boomers out there who would disagree with me. To even know and feel what these guys have been through and to see us up on the podium….PRIDE”
 
Australian Boomers Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists: Patty Mills (captain), Joe Ingles, Matthew Dellavedova, Aron Baynes, Nick Kay, Dante Exum, Matisse Thybulle, Jock Landale, Chris Goulding, Duop Reath, Nathan Sobey, Josh Green.