RIO DE JANEIRO -- Australia, aiming to make history by winning their first Olympic medal, went down in heartbreaking fashion to the world No. 2-ranked Europeans on Sunday. They led by one point with 10 seconds on the clock but a controversial foul call handed Spain two free-throws and the victory.
Australia then fumbled the ball away on their last possession, and Spain star Pau Gasol and his teammates celebrated by piling on top of each other near centre court. This wasn't the medal they wanted, but they would take it.
Patty Mills scored 30 points for Australia, and David Anderson 15, while the Boomers played almost the entire second half without Andrew Bogut after he had fouled out less than two minutes into the third quarter.
The result left recently crowned NBA champion Matthew Dellavedova sobbing, and the usually stoic coach Andrej Lemanis in tears.
"I'm proud of our group, the way they've stuck together throughout this tournament, and they deserved to be rewarded with a medal," Lemanis said.
"There's a lot of disappointment and heartache in that locker room at the moment.
"We didn't get the result that we wanted, and we felt we deserved."
The bronze final was far from the one-sided affair that many had predicted after Spain's red-hot performance in their semi-final loss to the U.S. and Australia's shocker against Serbia.
Spain led 23-17 at the first change, but just two points separated the teams at halftime. The Boomers then stole the lead early in the third quarter and, from there, it was basket-for-basket until the dying seconds.
Gasol scored 31 points in perhaps his final Olympic game as Spain added bronze to the silver they won at Beijing 2008 and at the 2012 London Games.
The whistle played more than its part as far as the Australians were concerned, with lemanis saying the result was "hard to swallow when they get their last four points off the foul line on what are not obvious, clear fouls and we're having to create them from the field".
"That part of it is frustrating."
Bogut was angry rather than frustrated, claiming Spanish players had deliberately dived into him.
The defeat was going to "eat at me" for a little while, Bogut said.
"When you blatantly dive into someone and fall over, it's tough to play that way as a big guy in the paint," he said.
"We spoke about it at half-time, that they're flopping all over the place. I don't blame Spain; if the referees aren't calling it you keep doing it."