The Boomers are through to the quarter finals of the Paris Olympics, but not before a nailbiting wait.

Australia had their Paris Olympics fate in their hands and stumbled at the final hurdle, ruing a sluggish second quarter in a 77-71 loss to Greece on Friday night.

They just had to win against Greece, who dropped its first two games of the group stage, to book a quarter-final berth.

Instead, the Boomers were made to wait for the result of the Spain and Canada game to see if their hopes of another podium finish stayed alive.

Fortunately for Australia, Canada held on in a thriller 88-85, seeing the Boomers go through in second place.

Australia will learn who their quarter final opponent will be when the remaining pool matches are completed tomorrow.

MATCH CENTRE: Play-by-play updates from Boomers vs Greece

Coach Brian Goorjian was far from impressed with what he saw.

“There was a lot of hero ball, head dropping, poor defence,” Goorjian said, per News Corp.

“That led to us not being able to play the defence that we know we can play.

“I thought the second half we did a better job. I thought it was a tale of two halves.

“We’ve got young point guards in their first Olympics. Guys who are 20, 21 and I don’t know if they have played in a game of this magnitude.

“But in the second half it was all huddles, talk, grit and ball movement.”

Australia shot just 48 per cent from the free throw line, going 10 for 21 from the charity stripe.

Turnovers (16) were also an issue, while the 3-point shooting was inconsistent once more as the Boomers went 9-for-26 from deep.

Jock Landale (17 point and eight rebounds) led the scoring for the Boomers but had already picked up three fouls by halftime, which forced Brian Goorjian to play Will Magnay and Duop Reath more than he may have hoped.

Goorjian already had to call on Magnay earlier than anticipated after the Boomers struggled to contain Giannis Antetokounmpo, with the Milwaukee Bucks star finishing on 20 points.

The bigger problem for the Boomers, however, was the fact Antetokounmpo’s teammates were making plays too, proving Greece was far from the one-man wrecking crew some made them out to be.

Thomas Walkup and Nick Calathes were both heavily involved early and executed to perfection in the backcourt. Walkup had 18 points while Calathes had eight assists.

Dinos Mitoglou and Vasilis Toliopoulos, meanwhile, combined for 26 points.

In reality, it could have been far worse for the Boomers given it looked like Daniels was unlikely to return after going down clutching at his left knee in the second quarter.

Daniels had been the Boomers’ breakout player at the Olympics, further establishing himself as one of basketball’s best perimeter defenders while showcasing serious growth on the offensive end.

Thankfully for the Boomers, Daniels returned to the court soon after heading to the locker room.

But there was little Daniels alone could do to save the Boomers, who were out-scored 28-12 in the second quarter to find themselves on the wrong end of a lopsided scoreboard at halftime.

The Boomers were largely able to keep the game close in the first quarter thanks to Landale’s work on the inside, while Patty Mills and Jack McVeigh were both feeling it from deep with a few 3-pointers at critical moments.

When that outside shooting dried up, however, and turnovers started to pile up, the Boomers began to unravel while a professional Greece side only pushed further ahead.

The Boomers started to rally home in the fourth quarter and got within two points of Greece but left themselves too much of a hole to dig their way out of in the end.

Joe Ingles was the only Boomer not to see any playing time while Josh Green was given just four minutes, having struggled all tournament to get into his usual rhythm.

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