Joe Ingles has no plans to walk off into the sunset with bronze, eyeing the Paris 2024 Games after declaring the Boomers' maiden Olympic medal is the new standard for Australian men's basketball.
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Ingles lauded long-time friend and teammate Patty Mills, whose 42-point haul in Saturday's 107-93 defeat of Luka Doncic's Slovenia earnt Australia the bronze medal in Tokyo.
The 33-year-old Ingles (15 points, nine rebounds, four assists) chimed in with some key plays in the second half as the Boomers snuffed out Slovenia's late rally, avoiding a fifth defeat from as many bronze medal Olympic playoffs in Australia.
A semi-final loss to a red-hot Kevin Durant and the United States, after leading by 15 points in the second quarter, was the Boomers' only misstep in Tokyo that cost them a shot at gold.
The pair embraced on court after the game, reflecting on a journey that began at Beijing's 2008 Games when the pair were 20 and 19 respectively.
"We're not done; straight after the game, the emotions are kicking but this is the standard and we've been fighting for this since 2008," Ingles said.
"When these younger generations take over eventually .. a gold medal, we missed out on that, but this is the standard Australian basketball's going to have forever now.
"In Beijing I was 20, Patty was 19 and we've continued to build this, pushed by each other.
"Its always been such a focus ... it's special to do it with him and he carried us tonight.
"There was no doubt in my mind he was going to bring it home for us.
"Our whole country was riding on him, everyone's been part of this but we all know at the end of the day if we needed a bucket we were going to this guy."
Coach Brian Goorjian, who also led the side in 2008, admitted he had never been more nervous before a game because "the thought of the alternative to this was horrifying for me".
"When you get to this game and to this point it was really the two guys next to me (Mills and Ingles) were the most invested in this; 12 years of work to do something that our country has never, ever done," he said.
"The game plan and what took place was the ball was put in these two's hands to make decisions in the half-court offence and carry the ball.
"We kept things pretty simplistic and it was something that they wanted and they wanted control of and it was decided before the game that was where we were going to go offensively.
"And we put numbers on the board that we haven't put on through the tournament ... these two decided the game for us."
Mills, who turns 33 this week, laughed that "it does feel like gold, rose gold".
"Gold vibes only is the standard and if it's below that we won't want it," he said.
""That mentality and that belief is what got us this thing.
"The Aussie spirit is the Aussie spirit. If you're Australian you understand what that is, especially when it comes to team sport."
Australian Associated Press
