Team USA had its toughest test in the Rio Olympics on Wednesday. The Americans came close to a monumental upset at the hands of the Australian national team. Down five at halftime, Team USA needed a huge effort down the stretch from Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving to pull out a ten point win.
It was a nearly embarrassing moment for the US and a proud one for the Aussies. However, despite coming close to defeating the basketball giants, Andrew Bogut is not satisfied.
The newest Dallas Maverick and Australia’s best player, Bogut is not interested in a participation medal. After the game, the center told the Vertical’s Michael Lee about the Australian mentality in these Olympics:
“No disrespect to the U.S., but we don’t want to go into an Olympics aiming for second, or fourth,” Bogut said. “We should go in with the mindset that we’re going to be first and they beat you, they beat you. But we’re not disrespecting anybody by saying that. We have a goal of being first. We have a goal of trying to be there in the end. What’s the point of playing otherwise? We have that mindset from the start, guys were saying let’s get a medal and we said as a group, ‘No, let’s get a gold and we’ll live with what we get after that, if we don’t get it.’ ”
Australia will have a difficult time beating this US team for Gold. They played a nearly-perfect game on Wednesday and still fell short just a little. Even with reports that the Aussies held back some of their playbook, it’s difficult to envision an upset.
However, they have firmly cemented themselves as the second best team in the tournament. They are absolutely the favorites to win silver and the biggest competition to Team USA.
That may not be enough for a competitor like Andrew Bogut, but it would be a huge moment for Australia, nonetheless.
