Australia's World Cup Shock Loss To Angola Means They Avoid USA

Lithuania has proven Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis' gamble correct by beating Slovenia in the final group D game at the FIBA World Cup on Friday. A much-weakened Boomers side fell to Angola 91-83 on Thursday night, giving Lithuania the chance to top the group if they beat Slovenia and in the process bump the Boomers into third place and away from the USA's side of the draw. The Lithuanians took this opportunity to over-run Slovenia in the final term and top the group. By avoiding the all-powerful Team USA, the Boomers' now have their best chance in 14 years at claiming the nation's first senior men's basketball medal. Australia will play Turkey in the knockout round of 16 on Monday at 4am, with ABC2 showing the game live - if the Australians win and Lithuania beats New Zealand the two sides will meet in the quarter-finals, with the winner most likely to play USA in the semi-finals. Lemanis rested star players Joe Ingles and Aron Baynes against Angola and he played his other starters for only the opening few minutes before turning the game over to teenager Dante Exum (12 points, six assists in 30 minutes) and reigning NBL leading scorer Chris Goulding (22 points). The Boomers led by 15 points early in the game but fell away in the final term to allow the Angolans to run over the top of them. Before Australia's surprise loss to Angola, the Slovenians were set to the top the group with Lithuania expected to fall to the Slovenians to make sure they finished third. But with the opportunity to top the group, Lithuania turned on a memorable last-quarter defensive effort to keep Slovenia to just two points in the final term as it scored a 67-64 win and condemned Slovenia to facing Dominican Republic in the round of 16 and then Team USA in the quarter-finals. The Boomers have come in for criticism from the Slovenians, with their NBA star Goran Dragic tweeting before the Lithuania game that Australia "fixed" its game against Angola. But there is a long history of team's using "tournament strategy" to make sure they avoid USA or other leading team The Slovenian media also challenged Lemanis in the post-game press conference, asking him if he believed in "fair play" and was happy with the loss. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/boomers-world-cup-loss-to-minnow-angola-enables-them-to-miss-usa-side-of-draw-20140905-10cqy0.html#ixzz3CSfC7gqd