Olympic Basketball 2016: Bronze-Medal Game Score and Reaction

In the penultimate basketball game at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Spain captured the bronze medal with an 89-88 victory over Australia.  

The Australians had a chance to win at the end, but excellent defense by Spain prevented them from getting a final shot off. The Olympic heartbreak continues for Australia, which has never won a medal in men's basketball. 

Spain, on the other hand, continues to be one of the most consistent forces in men's basketball. This win marks the country's third straight medal in the Olympics. 

HoopsHype went deeper into the vault to point out how well Spain has fared in Olympic action:

This was easily one of the best games of the tournament, with the two teams exchanging leads throughout the 40 minutes. Spain held an 85-84 edge with 41.4 seconds left as Australia got the ball back after an excellent defensive stand. 

Matthew Dellavedova made a terrific pass to Patty Mills, who had a rare miss on the day, but David Andersen was fouled after grabbing an offensive rebound. Andersen drilled both of his free throws to give Australia an 86-85 edge with 35.3 seconds remaining. 

Australia fouled Pau Gasol on Spain's next possession. Free throws were a problem for Spain throughout the game, but he made both to reclaim the lead with less than 30 seconds remaining. 

Aron Baynes, who fouled Gasol just seconds earlier, hit a short hook shot for just his third made field goal of the game to put Australia up 88-87 with less than 10 seconds in regulation.

Leigh Ellis of NBA TV noted in amusing fashion how physical Baynes played throughout the game:

The referees called a blocking foul against Mills as Sergio Rodriguez was driving to the basket. It didn't appear to be a clear foul, as Rodriguez looked like he was tripping on his way to the hoop, but the call was made. 

Zac Jackson of Pro Football Talk didn't agree with the refs:

HBO's Bill Simmons offered a more, uh, nuanced take on the situation:

Rodriguez hit both his free throws to put Spain back on top. Australia used its final timeout to set up a play with 5.4 seconds left, but it never came to fruition when the ball was knocked back to the other side of the court when time ran out. 

At various points in the first half, Spain appeared as if it was going to pull away from Australia. The Spanish team led by as many as nine points in the opening 20 minutes, but the Australians closed the gap to two points at 40-38 heading into the break. 

As he had been throughout these Olympics, Gasol was a machine for Spain. The six-time NBA All-Star had a game-high 31 points and 11 rebounds. 

Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports highlighted an important aspect of Spain's offense that seemed to thrive in any situation:

A key moment occurred less than three minutes into the third quarter, as Andrew Bogut fouled out for Australia. Even though he wasn't doing much offensively, his absence down the stretch left the team without a strong defensive presence in the paint. 

The Australian Olympic team was forgiving of Bogut's overaggressive play on Twitter:

Basketball Australia was much more practical about the situation:

The third quarter featured a lot of action, as the teams combined for 53 points after totaling just 78 in the first half. Spain held a 67-64 lead to start the fourth quarter after Nikola Mirotic hit a layup in the final seconds of the third.

Rodriguez extended Spain's lead to six at the start of the fourth quarter with a three-point bucket. It was the largest lead by either side since Spain was up by seven late in the second quarter. 

Yet as they did all game, the Australians immediately went on a 6-0 run to tie the game, which was capped off by a terrific drive and dunk by Brock Motum. 

ESPN's Kevin Pelton praised Motum's performance, which helped keep Australia in the mix without Bogut. Motum finished with 12 points and six rebounds in just under 16 minutes.

The teams continued to trade blows with the score tied at 79 with 3:50 remaining. Spain was struggling to hit free throws, going just 11-of-18 at this point in the game, though Mirotic made one of two that evened the score.

Spain turned to Gasol. He scored the Spanish team's next four points, including a terrific putback dunk. 

Mills responded with a bucket of his own as part of his 30-point day to give Australia the lead back. The back-and-forth showdown continued when Rodriguez hit a jumper to put Spain back up with 1:29 left, marking the 10th lead change over the last four minutes. 

Tom Steinfort of 9 News Australia used one of the greatest video games of all time to sum up Mills' performance:

This may not have been the gold-medal match that Spain or Australia dreamed of, but it will be hard to top the all-out effort both teams gave. 

Spain will get the rewards of victory, but the Australians have every reason to think an Olympic medal will come soon. 

For now, though, Spain is going to celebrate winning both a medal and being part of one of the best basketball games in Rio. 

Postgame Reaction

The difference between taking home a medal and leaving empty-handed was on full display in the postgame comments. 

On the winning side, Spain's Rudy Fernandez was all smiles after earning the bronze. 

"Unbelievable," said Fernandez, per Tom Withers of the Associated Press. "It's an amazing feeling. We played very bad at first in the tournament, but we just continued to play hard and with a medal, it's unbelievable."

Also from Withers, but on the other end of the spectrum, Bogut didn't see any good in Australia's fourth-place finish: "There's no real positive you can take from this. For other people, yeah, the top four is great. We're disappointed not being able to make history for our country."

Australia's loss drops it to 0-4 in Olympics bronze-medal games. Spain has proved itself to be one of the world's best basketball countries, especially during the Gasol era, with 10 medals in FIBA competition during that span.