Team USA falls to Australia in second straight exhibition loss ahead of Tokyo Olympics
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Gregg Popovich may actually have a problem on his hands.
Team USA dropped its second straight exhibition game on Monday night, falling to Australia 91-83 in Las Vegas.
The Americans fell to Nigeria 90-87 on Saturday, too — which was the first of five exhibition games they’ll play before making the trip to the Tokyo Olympics, where they are overwhelming favorites to win the Gold medal. The team has lost just four times since the 1992 Dream Team, and were 54-2 before the back-to-back losses.
Team USA has only lost two straight games twice before since 1992, once at the 2002 FIBA World Cup and again at the 2019 Basketball World Cup. The team is still missing three players, as Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker are all still playing in the NBA Finals.
“These teams are experienced,” Damian Lillard said, via the Las Vegas Review Journal’s Sam Gordon. “They’ve spent a lot of time together. We’re still working at becoming a team.”
Team USA jumped up early on Monday night, using an early 20-6 run to take control of the game before entering the half with a slight nine-point lead.
Australia, however, pushed back to take a slight lead of its own after the third quarter, ending on a 19-6 run capped by a Chris Goulding 3-pointer to give them a five-point lead headed into the fourth. The Americans were held without a field goal and found themselves on the wrong side of an 11-1 run over the final 4:35 of the game, too, which sealed the deal for the Boomers.
Lillard led the team with 22 points while shooting 6-of-11 from behind the arc, and Kevin Durant added 17 points. Bradley Beal put up 12 points, too, but those three were the only Americans to score in double figures.
Patty Mills led Australia with 22 points, but was followed closely by Joe Ingles’ 17. Matisse Thybulle and Goulding combined for 23 points off the bench, too. They shot nearly 53% from the field as a team.
Popovich and Team USA have three exhibition games left before making the trip to the Olympics, where a Gold medal now seems far from guaranteed. They’ll take on Argentina, who fell to Nigeria by 23, on Tuesday.
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