After Australia’s 98-92 loss to Team USA in an exhibition game on Tuesday morning, Boomers great Andrew Bogut declared: “They’re going to need more from him”.
Him being Patty Mills, who had gone 2-for-8 from the field in the defeat after a similarly concerning two warm-up games against China.
And while there is danger in reading too much into just one performance, Mills needed a game like the one he had on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.
The 35-year-old, who is set to play in his fifth Olympic Games, made a statement early and then came up clutch down the stretch to inspire the Boomers to a 84-73 win over Serbia.
Mills had 28 points after going 7-for-13 from the floor, hitting four 3-pointers to go with a pair of rebounds, five assists and two steals.
The game was in the balance late in the fourth quarter when Mills checked in, with six minutes left and Serbia leading 67-66.
But it was Mills magic from that point forward, with the veteran guard scoring six points to go with two rebounds, an assist and a steal to seal the win.
First, Mills drove towards the rim to collapse the defence with the shot clock ticking down and then kicked it out to an open Dyson Daniels who drained a deep 3-pointer.
Mills then sunk one from the mid-range and later forced a turnover from Ognjen Jaramaz, drawing a foul and converting both free throw attempts to put Australia ahead 73-67.
Mills missed his next 3-point attempt but flew to secure the offensive rebound, which later was converted into a Nick Kay triple, and then also hustled on the following possession for the defensive board.
The Mills-inspired flurry had the Boomers leading 76-67 and then an emphatic Exum jam extended the difference beyond double digits and Australia didn’t look back from that point.
Exum was also impressive off the bench with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Josh Giddey scored 13 points but turned the ball over six times.
Elsewhere, after playing just a few minutes on Tuesday, Duop Reath didn’t see any playing time against Serbia and looks set for a very limited role in Australia’s Paris campaign.
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The Boomers jumped out to an early 8-4 lead as Patty Mills put his shaky past few games behind him to catch fire.
Daniels once more looked confident and composed, finding a cutting Josh Giddey with a nice pass as the Bulls guard drew the foul and made two free throws.
Then Mills, having gone 2-for-8 from the field in Tuesday’s loss to Team USA, made his first two 3-point attempts while Serbia largely struggled to get its shots falling early.
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Vanja Marinkovic made Serbia’s first 3-pointer to help close the gap as the Boomers fell behind 9-8, but it was short-lived as Australia quickly regained the advantage to go up 14-9.
Exum was injected into the game after just five minutes in place of Giddey and made an immediate impact, first driving to the rim and setting up Daniels for the flush before Mills dished it off to the Mavericks guard for the layup.
The next string of changes saw Josh Green and Jack McVeigh enter the game for Kay and Daniels and while McVeigh missed his first two 3-point attempts, he showed no signs of hesitation as he drained a catch-and-shoot triple to put Australia ahead 17-11.
The Boomers finished the first quarter on top 20-15, impressing with their physicality and active hands on the defensive end to force turnovers and spark fastbreak opportunities.
That will continue to be a key part of the team’s identity and indicator of its success given the length and athleticism Australia boasts across the board.
Brian Goorjian went back to his starting line-up to open the second quarter before giving Matthew Dellavedova early minutes, having only put him into the game late against Team USA.
But no matter who was on the floor, there was seemingly little the Boomers could do to slow down
Nikola Milutinov as the Serbian big man used his 7-foot-frame to his advantage on the inside with a quick eight points and four rebounds in a matter of minutes.
A Dellavedova turnover then gave Serbia the lead and while Australia was quickly able to jump back ahead, it didn’t take long for the pressure to ramp up once again as Jokic came back into the game.
The reigning NBA MVP immediately found Fililip Petrusev with a masterful lob pass and in general Serbia’s ball movement was much-improved with the Nuggets superstar on the floor, drawing level with the Boomers at 32-32.
Mills then splashed another triple before an aggressive Giddey earned an and-1 to put Australia ahead by six points.
But that lead evaporated by halftime as a sloppy finish saw the Boomers commit back-to-back turnovers, gifting Serbia a 40-39 lead after easy buckets in transition.
Australia responded early in the third quarter to regain the upperhand, with Giddey involved on both ends while Jock Landale drained a triple for his first points of the game.
However, the seesawing nature of Wednesday morning’s game continued as the Boomers struggled to find answers for dealing with Serbia’s size in the paint.
Giddey, who showed more confidence in his mid-range game on Wednesday, pulled up to knock down a jumper to close out the quarter and give Australia a 62-59 lead.
Serbia took the lead right back to open the fourth through back-to-back Aleksa Avramovic buckets before Joe Ingles, who saw his first minutes midway into the third, found a cutting Landale for the finish.
It should have been a second assist for Ingles as that two-man game with Landale continued to develop but the Boomers big man missed the open dunk, with Serbia capitalising on the other end with a highlight Nikola Milutinov alley oop.
Turnovers were only making it harder for Australia to get into any sort of offensive rhythm, but it was the experience and composure of Mills down the stretch that turned the game.