Paris Olympics 2024: Boomers suffer shock defeat to Greece and future hangs in the balance

The Boomers have been handed an agonising defeat in their crunch-time clash with Greece and their Olympic fate is now up to the basketball gods.

A disastrous first half by the former bronze medallists, where they stumbled to a 17-point deficit, proved too much for them to recover, despite a brave second-half fightback.

A win would have put the Australians in the box seat to advance through to the quarterfinals, but they were met with a clinical Greek side led by superbly dual NBA most valuable player Giannis Antetokounmpo who scored a game-high 20 points.

Now their Olympic hopes hinge on group-leaders Canada, who must beat Spain in the deciding match if they’re to progress.

In front of nearly 30,000 fans at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium, the Boomers cut the margin back to as little as two points during the last stanza, but a three-pointer from Thomas Walkup with one minute to go, drove a dagger into the hearts of the Aussies as Greece held on to register a 77-71 win.

Jock Landale led the floor for the Boomers with a team-high 17 points despite early foul trouble while offensive talisman Patty Mills hit 13 including three clutch triples.

The Aussies were clumsy on offence with early turnovers and burned themselves with poor accuracy from the free throw line, finishing with 10 on 48 per cent accuracy.

Despite being convincingly outplayed in their two opening matches against Spain and Canada, Greece were dominant on the defensive end forcing numerous turnovers and crashing the boards while scoring freely at the other.

Know affectionately as “Greek Freak”, Antetokounmpo was spectacular, muscling his way to the rim for a floor-high 15 first-half points and also collected five rebounds.

The Boomers were under the pump early as Greece found their three-ball and Antetokounmpo imposed himself by muscling his way through the paint.

But two threes from the hot hand of Patty Mills – who scored eight first-quarter points – and three converted free throws by Josh Giddey in the final second of the opener kept the Boomers within one point.

However, they were dealt an enormous blow at the start of the second when Dyson Daniels went down clutching his knee after an innocuous landing, forcing him from the floor and down to the locker room.

Things went from bad to worse for the Aussies, as Greece put their foot to the floor, streaking away on a 13-0 run to open up a 15-point lead.

Australian guard Dante Exum provided a much-needed spark by throwing down an enormous slam dunk through heavy traffic and drawing the foul before knocking down a crucial three.

But a euro-stepping Antetokounmpo continued to dominate down the stretch while point guard Thomas Walkup (18 points) shots lights out from three-point land.

WA’s Duop Reath provided a spark with a rare stop after swatting away a Nick Catalas shot before a fired-up Jock Landale converted his three-point play to cut the margin to 12 in the third.

The gutsy Boomers continued to push in the final quarter and outscored their opponents 21-15, but ultimately left themselves with too much ground to make up.