Matthew Dellevadova has inspired Australia to a second-straight victory at the Rio Olympics, racking up a double-double to help the Boomers edge out Serbia on Monday.
The Milwaukee-bound NBA superstar was instrumental in Australia's 95-80 victory, collecting 23 points and 11 assists to give the Boomers a shot of confidence heading into their mouth-watering showdown against the unstoppable force that is the United States men's basketball team.
Patty Mills top scored with 26 points, while Andrew Bogut and Aron Baynes combined for 19 points to help the Boomers recover from a seven point deficit in the third quarter.
With tennis superstar Ana Ivanovic, formerly referred to as Aussie Ana during her relationship with golfer Adam Scott, in the stands supporting her compatriots, the Boomers gatecrashed the Serbian party to increase their chances of a medal in Rio.
According to the hype, these Boomers are the drought-breakers. The ones to end Australia's long-standing Olympic medal dry spell for the men.
Gold? Extremely unlikely even with a second string USA team docked just outside of Rio on a luxury cruise ship ready to take home some more medals of the gold variety.
Without Ben Simmons, Dante Exum and Thon Maker, the Boomers still have the big three in the NBA championship-winning trio of Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova.
They combined for the Boomers' first 19 points, which included a rare triple for Bogut from way downtown to give the Aussies an early lead against an aggressive Serbian line-up.
An equally aggressive Serbian coach, Aleksandar Đorđević, was given a technical foul for mouthing off at the officials in the first quarter, while Aussie Aron Baynes also found himself in hot water for a stray elbow.
The two first-up winners so desperately want to finish second in the group to avoid the US for as long as possible in the knockout stage of the competition, knowing full well the winner on Monday would give themselves every chance of doing so.
The Serbians did well to fight their way back into the contest late in the second half after conceding four threes in the first seven minutes, heading to the break holding on to a 43-40 lead.
Serbia started the second half in sublime touch, knocking down three consecutive triples to edge out to a seven point lead before Dellevadova, who got under the skin of the opposition, came to life.
