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Patty Mills has described Australia’s FIBA World Cup campaign as ‘disappointing’ after they finished the competition with a 100-84 win against Georgia.
The Boomers went into the match knowing it would be their last, after an earlier loss to Slovenia proved costly.
But beating Georgia – winning the first, second and fourth quarter in their second round Group K match – means Australia finished third in the group.
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A loss to Germany in the first round had put the Boomers on shaky ground early in the competition.
Post-game Mills, who finished with 19 points, was dejected but looked towards Paris 2024.
“It’s definitely a disappointing result for a major tournament from our part, but it was important to us as a playing group that we came out and finished this thing right, finished with a win,” he said on ESPN’s coverage.
“The positives for us is that we’ve got the Olympics 10 months away and for us to keep building on what we’ve started from a foundation point, six weeks ago, into a very strong Olympics.
“You haven’t seen the best of us, we’ll get away from this now and get back together soon and Paris Olympics is what our goal is.”
Rising star Josh Giddey finished with 15 points to take his tournament tally to 97, making him the youngest ever player to lead the scoring for Australia at a World Cup.
Dante Exum put forward his best performance with 18 points while Duop Reath had 16.
NBL championship winning coach Trevor Glesson was full of praise for Exum on ESPN.
”That’s one positive you can take away,” he said.
“Dante’s performance has been first-class in every game, especially when its under pressure, Dante has been coming good.
“He’s been under the post there making some efforts, defensively he can pick it up full-court.”
