PARIS (France) - Vintage FIBA Patty Mills was the hero to force overtime with a dramatic midrange jumper, but it just wasn't enough for Australia.
Australia's veteran superstar saved his best game of the 2024 Olympics for when it mattered most in helping the Boomers give Serbia a real test in the Quarter-Finals.
FIBA Patty poured in 26 points to go along with 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. Most importantly, he hit the shot to force the game into the overtime period and keep his Boomers medal hopes alive for a few more minutes.
But it was for naught in a 95-90 loss in the Quarter-Finals.
The 35-year-old came into the game averaging a FIBA Patty-unlike 13.3 points per game in the group stage in Lille. Mills' top showing thus far was scoring 19 points against Spain.
The scoring ace had collected at least 21.2 points per game in his last three Olympics (21.2 points per game in 2012, 21.3 points per game in 2016 and 23.3 points per game in 2021) as well as 22.8 and 18.6 points per game at the last two FIBA Basketball World Cups.
Mills had it going right away against Serbia, scoring 18 points in his first 9 minutes of play and helping Australia surge ahead by 24 points.
After he had 20 points at intermission, Serbia worked hard defensively to get Mills in check and allowed him to score just 6 points in the second half. While Serbia managed to slow him down, they were not able to stop him in the last possession of the fourth quarter as he knocked down the shot of the game to force overtime.
However, Mills was held scoreless in the extra period before accepting defeat.
Shane Heal was long a legendary leader of the Boomers, playing in four Olympics and his name is in multiple top 10 all-time lists in Olympics stats. And Heal was full of praise for FIBA Patty.
"He's going to go down in history as one of our greatest Boomers," Heal told Wide World of Sports.
"Just the longevity of it, his commitment and sacrifice long-term has been incredible. His performances when he puts on the green and gold is outstanding. He's certainly alongside guys like Andrew Gaze that have been there and performed at that level over a long period of time. And I think he will go down as being greater when he represented Australia than he did for his NBA career, which is obviously at a high standard as well. But certainly he always took a step up when he put on the green and gold."
Mills' steal pulled into sole possession of second place in the all-time list with 40, just three behind record leader Andrei Kirilenko of Russia.
Most steals made all-time at the Olympics
*Active players
The steal was introduced as a statistic for the Olympics in 1996.
Mills' great outing also moved him closer to fourth place on the all-time scoring list as he improved to 567 points behind Argentina's Luis Scola's 591.
Most points scored all-time at the Olympics
FIBA