Third place means something in the Olympics. All the team sports have a bronze medal match, and it really matters. It’s for a medal, and it’s for your country. On Sunday, you could see that Australia really, truly wanted to win bronze in their game against Spain. And they lost on THIS call.
Australia lost the basketball bronze medal because of a blown call in the final seconds
It’s really hard to see a foul here even if you’re looking for one.
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
This referee crew is the only one with an NBA ref, Steve Anderson, but Patty Mills was called for a foul against Sergio Rodriguez on the above play with five seconds left and Australia leading, 88-87. Rodriguez made both free throws and Australia was forced to take a desperation half-courter, fumbling the ball as time expired.
Here’s the play in four screenshots, as Rodriguez starts to make his move.
Rodriguez steps through and Mills, importantly, drops his right foot backwards out of the way.
This is where it’s closest to a foul, but it looks like Mills gets his right hand out of the way and doesn’t make contact with Rodriguez’s right hand taking the shot.
By this point, with the ball in the air, Mills is definitely out of the way.
This is just a heartbreaking way for Australia to lose in every manner. That the Australians got stuffed so badly on defense at the end of the game doesn’t help matters.
