Boomers blow huge lead in brutal Paris heartbreak as Aussie medal bid ends in OT thriller

Breaking down every remaining medal chance for Australia as record in sight

‘Never seen anything like it’: Star pulls off boilover for the ages in ‘ultimate ambush’

“It’s hard. The one that haunts me is the loss to Spain in the 2019 World Cup that we still think about today,” Bogut said.

“It was one of those ones where there were a few dubious calls, with a few different bounces of the ball, and without a few breakdowns defensively, we win that game easily.

“I think this game was very similar. I felt like we lost the game three separate times. It felt like there were three different games within the game.

“I thought in that first half is where we lost the game; especially the last four minutes were very costly. We should have had a 20 plus point half time lead. Serbia went on a run and cut it back to 12.”

International games are only played over 40 minutes compared to the 48-minute games of the NBA.

Bogut says that late fade-outs the Boomers were guily of simply aren’t acceptable in the shorter games.

“I think for FIBA games with 40 minute games, you have to finish quarters and finish halves. We played a fantastic 17 minute half, but that last three minutes they cut it back from 24 to 12,” he continued.

“We had Serbia on the ropes and couldn’t finish them off which is the most heartbreaking thing.”

“It was almost like they (Serbia) could smell that blood in the water going into halftime,” former Boomers guard Brad Newley added.

“That 12 point margin at halftime would have meant for some shaky conversations at halftime.”

Bogut opined that the Boomers’ downfall not only against Serbia but throughout the tournament was due to the gap between the best and their worst being so wide.

“We moved the ball very well in the first half… but when things tightened up in the second half, we went straight iso ball and the Serbians did a great job switching up,” Bogut said.

“There was no ball movement… To be so night and day, and that’s been the story of our tournament.

“We’d look elite for four or five minutes and then look piss poor for four or five minutes. We couldn’t find that consistency.

“You got to turn that piss poor into average and you’ll be fine. everyone has ups and downs in games but it was the contrast between how elite we were at times to then falling off a cliff cost us and Serbia took advantage of that.”

Despite qualifying for the quarterfinals, it was an underwhelming Paris Olympics campaign from the Aussies.

They started well with a win over Spain but lost subsequent group matches to Canada and Greece.

Their for/against was better than that of Greece and Spain, so they finished Group A in second spot, but the finals loss to Serbia meant the Boomers lost three straight games before being bundled out.

Both Newley and Bogut agreed it was a tournament to forget for Australia.

“I think the guys will be disappointed with that result and so we should be. We’re a team that swings in the top four these days and I don’t think it was a great campaign at all,” Newley said.

“I agree, considering with how that last game went. It hasn’t been a successful campaign and most of the guys on that roster will say the same thing if they’re honest with you,” Bogut added.