'Well that's awkward': Blunder that left Patty Mills confused after WC heartbreak
Patty Mills and the Boomers were left shattered after their heartbreaking exit to Spain at the FIBA World Cup, but the San Antonio point guard also claims he was originally told he would make the tournament All-Star Five.
Mills was the standout performer for the Boomers throughout the tournament and many fans couldn’t believe he didn’t make the tournament’s best.
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Mills averaged 22.8 points per game, shooting the triple at 40 per cent.
But there was no room for the San Antonio Spurs point guard in the World Cup All-Star five, which consisted of Ricky Rubio, Evan Fournier, Bogdan Bogdanoic, Luis Scola and Marc Gasol.
Rubio also earned the World Cup MVP after leading Spain to the title.
Well that’s awks. Not the ultimate award I was after, but I was told by @BasketballAus on the bus post game that I made the All-Star Five.
Nek Minute... 🤷🏾♂️
Throw it on the fire 🔥
WE’LL BE BACK #Tokyo2020 @AUSOlympicTeam https://t.co/Sy6MaIMpky— Patrick Mills (@Patty_Mills) September 17, 2019
But to rub salt in the wounds to a heartbreaking WC exit, Mills claims Basketball Australia told him post game on the bus that he had made the All-Star Five.
Fortunately, Mills wasn’t dwelling on the missed-award and is already looking at the Olympics in Tokyo.
Tokyo is less than a year away and a distraught coach Andrej Lemanis managed to force a smile when asked about the next chapter in the side's elongated quest for a medal.
"The loss in Rio was something that was spoken about here ... they don't need it as motivation but they wanted to build on that, take the belief from that into this campaign and I think they'll do the same (into Tokyo)," he said.
