On Saturday, Chiller shed tears as she spoke of the “trauma” felt by nine athletes who had been held overnight and fined by police for wearing the wrong accreditation to a basketball game.
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He fouled out mid-way through the third quarter and complained bitterly afterward about the officiating. “Our efforts here were very, very often close but they fell just short”.
Spain kept a narrow lead throughout the first half. We’re disappointed. We had a frightful semi-final, we battled tonight and times we were outnumbered on the court. It’s what you choose to call and what you choose to let go. Spain got their biggest lead of the game at 12 and looked ready to run with the bronze medal.
There was a lot at stake for both Australia and Spain in the bronze-medal game on Sunday. Well, here’s one of the instances it will.
Australia followed up their choke job in the semifinals against Serbia with another choke job against Spain.
The task was made even more hard for the Aussies when Andrew Bogut fouled out at the start of the third quarter, but the Aussies never gave up. Anderson, Matthew Dellavedova, and Aron Baynes each had four fouls, while the only Spaniard with that many was Victor Claver.
More years for the national team? They couldn’t make a shot and lost by 26. Bogut, in particular, was bothered, as he accused the refs of a terrible game following the loss.
“It’s unbelievable. You can just dive into guys recklessly and get calls like that”.
Bogut was angry rather than frustrated, claiming Spanish players had deliberately dived into him.
The second half was peppered with lead changes, including seven in the final two minutes of the game.
As always, the final call of a game will get the most attention, even though – in a one-point game – every possession in all four quarters was crucial.
The ending to the game, however, was rather anti-climatic.
The Aussies had one shot to win it but the ball was knocked away and Spain took the bronze medal.
But they were without centre Andrew Bogut down the stretch.
Rodriguez had 11 points and 5 assists while Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic added 14 points and 7 rebounds for Spain. Photo Credit: Bob Rosato/USA TODAY Images. “But here, you get nothing (for fourth)”.
Golden State Warriors ‘ prized free-agent signing Kevin Durant scored 30 points and helped the Americans jump out to a huge lead by halftime.
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Deputy Chef de Mission, Fiona de Jong, apologized to the court and explained that the athletes were supporting their teammates, they were not attempting to defraud anyone, no one had suffered a material loss and no one was harmed as a result of the incident, the Australian Olympic team said in a statement.
