Australia hands USA second straight loss in Olympics exhibition

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

This has been the worst exhibition outing for USA Men’s basketball team.

For the first time in their pre-Olympic exhibition history, the mighty USA squad lost back-to-back games and absorbed another tough loss against Australia, 91-83.

Their second straight loss handed them the worst outing in their exhibition history after sweeping all of their games in the past years.

Patty Mills led the way for Australia as he scored 22 huge points and carried over his insane performance against Argentina in their first game.

Mills’ co-backcourt Joe Ingles of the Utah Jazz also hurt USA from deep and chipped in 17 points and became a major contributor when the Australians came from behind after trailing by as much as 10 points.

Damian Lillard’s shooting exhibition wasn’t enough for team USA as he equalized Mills’ scoring production and was on fire in the first half.

The Gregg Popovich-led team also lost to Nigeria in their first game and had to give up another first-half lead to fall at the hands of the Australians.