Patrick Mills erupts with 39 points as Australia pull off a huge second half to thump Great Britain 106-75 – London Olympics Men Basketball Recap
On Saturday night, hosts Great Britain took on Australia in the battle of the Group B lightweights, one which will go a long way in deciding the fourth team going into the quarterfinals.
Britain started with a bang racing to a 6-0 lead and were ahead by 10 at the break. However, the game turned on it’s ahead after the interval. The Aussies entered the court as a completely different team, running riot over the Brits 30-14 in the third quarter and with that they pretty much sealed the game, eventually winning it by 106-75.
The star of the night was the San Antonio Spurs reserve Patrick Mills. The guard needed less than 30 minutes to pound a tournament high 39 points – breaking Carmelo Anthony’s recent record of most points scored in an Olympic game. He shot 9 of 15 from the floor, including 5 of 7 three point shooting, and also converted all of his six free throws.
Three other Aussies entered the double scoring figures with David Andersen leading at 13. Joe Ingles added 11 while Aron Baynes had 10 for the Aussies, who shot 57.1 percent from the field and nailed down 13 of 24 from the long range.
Joel Freeland paced the Brits with 16 points while Dan Clark finished the night with 14. Luol Deng had a disappointing outing with just 9 points and 6 boards.
The Brits led by 9-4 inside the first four minutes and after the Australians pulled within one at 11-12 with 3:23 left in the frame, Joel Freeland and Dan Clark combined for five points to a push the advantage to six points.
Deep into the quarter, Clark knocked down back to back three pointers to make it 25-16 before Aron Baynes made a deuce to end the frame at 25-18.
The Aussies tried to make a comeback early in the game with a 6-2 run, but the hosts countered with an 11 point unanswered run to open up a 42-28 lead. The first half ended at 46-36 and Britain seemed to have a realistic chance of upsetting the Aussies.
Or so they thought.
In the next 20 minutes of playing time, the Aussies routed the British ball team 70-29 to clinch their second win of the tournament. They play the unbeaten Russians next while Great Britain will search for their first win in the tournament against China.
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