For the first time since 1972, when NBA players started to suit up for the national team, there were boos from the crowd when the game ended after USA basketball had their second consecutive loss at home in exhibition games.

Uncertain Gold Medal Finish

Despite the fact that the games did not count, fans were disappointed with the USA basketball team as they were not used to seeing the national team losing. The USA Basketball was still optimistic about their Olympic stint and took the fact that their losses so far were only in exhibition games.

According to The Guardian, the Americans wasted a 10-point second-half lead, and have dropped back-to-back games. The USA Basketball lost to the Australian Boomers, 91-83, on Monday night. The consecutive loss was just the third time for the Men's basketball of the U.S. since NBA players started wearing the red, white and blue in 1992.

The other instances were the USA Basketball lost two straight in the 2002 Fiba World Championship and two straight in the 2019 Basketball World Cup. The US finished sixth in the 2002 tournament, while ended up seventh in the latter. These exhibition games were considered as glorified scrimmages, and so far, based on the results, a medal for the U.S. looks uncertain.

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Patty Mills scored 22 points to lead Australia, holding the US to finish the game without a field goal for the final 4:34. The Australian team buried the three-time defending Olympic gold medalists to 0-2 in the first two opening games of the team in the five-game slate of exhibitions prior to the Tokyo Games.

During the postgame interview, the Aussie and San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills stated that they were not satisfied as a team with the outcome of the game against the U.S. and he admitted that they've got a long way to go.

Moreover, Mills said that they could still get a lot better especially on defense, which is their primary advantage on their Olympic campaign. Mills also added that they believed that their entire team was able to step on the floor and make an impact to get the win against the home team.

Also Aussie sniper and Utah Jazz player Joe Ingles stated that they walked into the game expecting to win. Ingles scored 17 points, while Matisse Thybulle scored 12 and Chris Goulding had 11 for Australia.

Team USA coach Gregg Popovich took an optimistic task despite Team USA's uncertain start. Popovich stated that he initially thought that they got better tonight, especially in the first half of action. Popovich pointed out that since the group was only together for a short time, there's a lot of things that they had to cover, U.S. News reported.

Furthermore, Jayson Tatum's layup with 4:35 left put the Americans up 82-80, but Australia scoured the U.S. on 11-1 run the rest of the way. Despite the scoring production from Damian Lillard, who led the U.S. with 22 points, Kevin Durant with 17, and Bradley Beal finishing with 12, the team lost their second exhibition game.

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Written by Jess Smith

WATCH: USA vs. Australia EXHIBITION | FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS | JULY 12, 2021 - NBA