LILLE, France -- With nine seconds remaining in the third quarter Greece called a timeout, holding a 62-50 edge over the Boomers.
Jock Landale bent over with his hands on his knees and screamed in frustration loud enough to be heard well back in the stands. During the timeout, he continued to berate himself.
So often the emotional engine of the Boomers, Landale knew every point mattered as the Boomers battled for their quarterfinal lives.
After digging themselves a 19-point first half hole in a performance that head coach Brian Goorjian described as "diabolical", Australia had awoken, yet continually failed to finish their work.
Arguably the Boomers best performer in the tournament thus far, Landale missed three free-throws in the third period and two shot attempts at the rim, prompting the emotive response.
"I should have made those, I was f------ exhausted," Landale told ESPN. "It's not an excuse. Those are the little things we need to go in our favour in crucial moments."
At half time, Australia appeared on the ropes, trailing 53-36 with a loss of 18 points or more eliminating them from the Olympics regardless of the result in the Canada and Spain matchup later in the day.
"I said we don't give a f--- about the margin, we're there to win a game, we're not worried about that stuff," Landale said.
"Going in with the mentality of going for it all gives us the best chance to get the best out of ourselves."
Unsurprisingly, two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo had bulldozed the Boomers through two periods, tallying 15 points, five rebounds and three assists. Head coach Brian Goorjian lamented poor offensive execution to that point, preventing the defence from getting set in the half court.
"A big part of our problem was offensively in the first half. A lot of hero ball, a lot of bounce that led to us not being able to play the defence that we play," Goorjian said.
"Horrible shots. Turnovers. If the court is open, you've got no chance [stopping Antetokounmpo]. If the court is open, you've got no chance. In the second half we got our defence set. In the first half we didn't."
Antetokounmpo was held scoreless in the third period, with his only shot attempt coming from long range, while also committing one turnover.
"They are an incredible defence. A clinic from them," Antetokounmpo said. "They were helping, they were being physical, they were fouling in transition, rebounding the ball. Offensively they were moving the ball, playing downhill, [Josh] Giddey was playing downhill, Dante [Exum] was playing downhill, [Patty] Mills was moving so much, the bigs were rolling, they were very good in the third quarter."
Closing to within one possession on multiple occasions during the fourth, the Boomers ultimately fell agonizingly short, left to lament a dreadful first half to leaving their Olympic medal hopes in limbo.
"Just executed the game plan better. We didn't let [Antetokounmpo] get on the boards. We tried to run him as hard as we could, we didn't let him get downhill one on one with people," Landale said.
"That's what we should have done from the start, that's what we planned for, but we just couldn't get that done."
Playing a minor role in Lille to this point, Goorjian called on a longtime Boomer to shift the tide.
Entering the game with 4:17 to play in the third quarter and the Boomers trailing 59-43, Matthew Dellavedova made an instant impact. The four-time Olympian dimed Landale on the roll for an easy two, knocked down a triple from the right wing and generally harassed the Greek ball handlers at every opportunity.
"That's the reason we brought him here. If this thing gets nasty or it gets hairy and we lose our way, we know he'll steady us," Goorjian said.
"We just thought from a defensive standpoint, to keep the pressure on, you bring him in there. We enhance our defence and we get through our system better."
Goorjian generally leant on his veterans during the period of turbulence, with Exum and Mills also featuring heavily in the second half.
"We got young point guards, first Olympic games, guys that are 20, 21, I don't know that they've played a game of this magnitude in international ball," Goorjian said.
"They learned a lot in the first half. I thought the adjustment in the second half was much better. We had many opportunities in the second half to win the game with good shots, good looks, the ball didn't go in. Wide open corner shots, we missed 11 free throws, we gave ourselves an opportunity to win from a dire situation."
Both Giddey and Dyson Daniels had important moments in the second half, though another member of the young core, Josh Green, continues to struggle. The 23-year-old performed well at last year's World Cup and has started in the past for the Boomers, yet he saw just 4:19 of court time in this game and was benched after the second quarter.
"We love him, but he hasn't got going. One of the things we talked about was the Delly factor....and now we're 14 or 15 down, we had to make the move, tighten the rotation, bring Delly into it," Goorjian said.
"I thought Delly, Duop [Reath], we just got some different faces and heads in the thing because the first half was diabolical. It has been a struggle for him leading into this. We gave him the first few, but it looked like it was going down the same path."
Green was a major factor in the win over Spain due to his rebounding and athleticism defensively but is scoreless for the tournament thus far.
Lessons learned
Frustrated, disappointed, angry....and now relieved.
When the Boomers left the arena to head back to the Lille Olympic village, their hopes of travelling to Paris for a quarter final matchup were in the hands of Canada.
"I'm going to watch but I don't know that I could do it here," Goorjian said with a pained look as he put his head in his hands.
"At halftime it looked diabolical. If we do get through, the way we finished the game, it gives us a chance. If we do get through, we go through in second place which is a pretty good result for this pool."
Admitting that the team didn't want to hear it in the moment, Goorjian implored the squad to take lessons -and hope-from the second half fightback.
"I talked about the learning process. I know nobody wants to hear that right now, but just convincing them that if we do move forward, how we win. We have new players, a lot of them haven't played in this before so when you get under pressure it all emerges," Goorjian said.
"The first half is how we don't want to play, we've talked about that, but when you experience it, it's a great learning experience. The second half is where we want to go. It helps convince the team about what we need to do to win." From the village in Lille. Goorjian watched in agony as Canada held on for an 88-85 win over Spain.
"Our second half got us second," Goorjian said via text to ESPN.
The Boomers won half a game against Greece. It was enough to survive. Onto Paris they go.