'Diabolical’: Boomers narrowly miss Paris pool of death thanks to tight Canada victory over Spain

The Boomers owe Canada a favour after their tense defeat of Spain helped squeeze the Australians out of the Olympic basketball pool of death and into the Paris quarter-final stage.

Australia were left relying on their Commonwealth friends after a “diabolical” first half in a six-point loss to Greece in their final Olympics pool game in Lille, north of the capital.

The 77-71 loss could have been worse, Australia roaring back from a 19-point margin that, if final, would have meant a guaranteed early exit.

Even a 10-point loss would have left Australia needing Canada to win and then hope they were among two of the best third-placed sides to progress.

The Boomers did enough to avoid that hairy scenario though and eventually lock up second place in their pool.

Patty Mills (13 points) and Dyson Daniels (11 points, eight assists, six rebounds) hit big shots to cut the lead to two points in the final minutes and avoid disaster.

Spain, beaten by Australia in the Olympic opener, then pushed the fancied Canadians all the way in an 88-85 result, Sergio Llull’s three-pointer to tie the game on the buzzer missing.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander kept the Canadian medal contenders undefeated with 20 points, including clutch free throws in the final moments.

Canada’s favour for Australia in men’s basketball came after their women’s football team failed to come through for the Matildas, avoiding a slip-up against Colombia on Friday (AEST) to knock send the Matildas home.

Quarter-final match-ups will be decided by Saturday’s final pool games (Sunday AEST), before the competition moves to Paris’s Bercy Arena on Tuesday.

It was a bittersweet first Paris win for Greece, who could have guaranteed their progression with a larger victory but now must wait on results in other pools on Saturday to go their way.

Jock Landale continued his fine tournament with a 17-point, eight-rebound double-double while point guard Josh Giddey (nine points, 10 rebounds, six assists, five turnovers) struggled in the first half but finished strongly.

“The first half was ‘hero ball’, head dropping, poor defence, that all circulated,” coach Brian Goorjian said.

“The second half was huddles, talk, grit, ball movement.

“We had many opportunities in the second half to win the game with good shots, with good looks, and the ball didn’t go in.

“We gave ourselves an opportunity to win from a dire situation.

“The first half was diabolical.”

He said Giddey in particular would learn from the high-stakes encounter.

“I don’t know that they’ve played in a game of this magnitude in international basketball,” he said.

Matthew Dellavedova’s introduction in the third quarter steadied things, too as they crucially clawed the deficit back to single figures.

“That’s the reason we brought him here; if this thing gets nasty or it gets hairy and we lose our way,” Goorjian said.

Antetokounmpo (20 points, seven rebounds, six assists) kept coming though and, crucially, had help.

Thomas Walkup (18 points) hit four-of-seven triples while Dinos Mitoglou and Vasilis Toliopoulos both scored 13 points.

Walkup’s fourth three-pointer made it a seven-point margin just as the Boomers looked set to run them down in the final 90 seconds.

Australia made just 10 of their 21 free throws, the result following a defeat of Spain and loss to Canada in what’s been dubbed the Olympics’ group of death.

Daniels went to the change room after slipping and falling awkwardly in the second quarter, feeling for the knee he’d injured earlier this year.

But he returned to play a key role in the fourth quarter.

“A little twist, a little scare ... but it feels good, so I’ll be right,” Daniels said.