Jokic’s last laugh after Boomers blow lead in OT loss
Nikola Jokic has had the last laugh as Serbia came from 24 points down to beat the Boomers 95-90 in overtime and book an Olympic semi-final.
In his last Games outing, Patty Mills was immense as Australia burst out of the blocks, the five-time Olympian then hitting a clutch bucket to take their Paris quarter-final to overtime.
But, down three, the reigning NBA MVP took control with two stops and two buckets to have the final say on Monday.
He finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists against Tokyo’s bronze medallists, Serbia scoring the game’s final eight points.
Mills (26 points) went berserk either side of quarter time in a 20-point Australian run that put them 22 clear.
He made seven of nine shots in that streak, most of them tough pull-up jumpers, as the 35-year-old wound back the clock.
At the height of his run Mills (18 points) was beating Serbia (17) on his own, Australia shooting at 80 per cent in an opening half that seemed too good to be true.
Duop Reath’s three-pointer made it a 24-point lead before Serbia stopped the rot and Jokic got involved, jeers from the crowd when Aleksa Avramovic flopped only spurring them on.
Marko Guduric’s triple made it an 11-point game and, behind MVP chants, Jokic went to the line to make it a 12-point margin at the half.
They kicked on in the third, turnovers killing the Boomers and Serbia’s other star Bogdan Bogdanovic catching fire with back-to-back buckets.
The lead had suddenly evaporated to four and Mills slipped on the first play after a time-out, Ognjen Dobric’s triple making it a one-point game.
Australia’s offence ground to a halt and Bogdanovic put Serbia ahead 61-60 with three minutes left in the quarter.
Serbia closed out a 25-11 quarter with more Jokic free throws and a defensive stop to lead by two, Australia’s shooting percentage dropping to 55.
Jack McVeigh kept Australia close with seven fourth-quarter points before a Giddey corner three tied the game with three minutes to play
The hit a tough floater and then missed another that would have put them ahead in the final 90 seconds.
Mills then had possession with 40 seconds to play, but his shot hit the back of the rim and bounced out.
Landale then fouled Vasilije Micic with nine seconds on the clock.
The Serbian missed the first but hit the second to put them ahead by two.
Mills recovered a loose ball to hit a tough bucket in traffic to take it to overtime, the Boomers bench pleading for a technical foul when the Serbian coach called for a timeout they didn’t have.
McVeigh (13 points) and Josh Giddey (25 points, five rebounds, four assists) triples had Australia ahead by three points but Jokic was a brick wall on defence, stopping successive possessions.
He then scored four-straight points, Australian heads dropping when, down three points, Giddey’s inbound pass was intercepted to seal the result.
Giddey then appeared to hurt his lower leg on the game’s final play, limping off the court as the siren sounded.
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