Australia fell short of making the FIBA World Cup final after suffering a narrow defeat to Spain. It was an epic double-overtime showdown that saw the two nations put on exciting basketball for the Chinese crowd. However, outgoing Golden State Warriors big man Andrew Bogut was far from satisfied with the final score. In fact, he didn't hide his feelings as the team was walking towards the locker rooms post-game.
Another f word aimed at FIBA and referees, this time coming from Andrew Bogut's mouth pic.twitter.com/3qPnEmPyvJ
— Jonas Miklovas (@jmiklovas) September 13, 2019
Bogut called foul on the officiating done on the game. Basing on his emotional outburst, he believes that the officials cost the Boomers the opportunity to become the first country to win a FIBA World Cup title.
It was a display that definitely echoed the frustrations of Australian fans that made the trip. However, head coach Andrej Lemanis chose to remain calm and look at things from an objective perspective.
Asked if he shares his big man's feelings, the Brisbane Bullets coach remained conservative of his answers.
“I can’t comment the foul, I was on the other side of the floor. I will see the video and maybe I will say something”, he mentioned, per Eurohoops' Dionysis Aravantinos.
It was understandable why emotions were high as it was a close battle. Australia led for most of the match, only failing to close it out in regulation. Patty Mills led the Boomers in scoring with his 34 points, while Bogut chipped in with his 12 points and 9 rebounds. If Patty Mills scored the final free throw at the end of regulation, we would have been looking at a different story.
However, Spain managed to hold on and force two overtimes against the Boomers. Marc Gasol was equally incredibly with his 33 points; Ricky Rubio was fantastic at the point with his 19 points, 7 rebounds, 12 assists, and 4 steals.
However, they now have to focus on getting the bronze and beat whoever loses in the other semifinal.
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