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After losing to Nigeria, the U.S. Men’s Olympic team lost another exhibition game, this time to Australia.
These games don’t officially count for anything, but the U.S. Team’s the most successful in international competition ever, winning medals in all 18 Olympic tournaments it has entered, including 15 golds. With that record, dropping exhibition games to Australia and Nigeria is a bad sign.
The U.S. is led by Kevin Durant, while Australia is fronted by Patty Mills, and Team USA had been 54-2 in exhibition games since pros started playing back in 1992.
The U.S. led at the half 46-37, but Australia scorched the U.S. 32-18 in the third quarter and was ahead 86-82 with 3:14 left to play. The U.S. failed to score in the final minutes of the game, with Australia winning 91-83.
Damian Lillard led the U.S. with 22 points, including 6-of-11 from three. Mills had 22 for Australia and Durant had just 17 points.