A giant hurdle has been removed from Australia's path to an historic basketball World Cup medal, but coach Andrej Lemanis insists it didn't come via a controversial tank job.
The Boomers have rejected suggestions their shock loss to Angola yesterday was orchestrated to avoid a quarter-final showdown with Team USA. Australia, chasing a fourth straight victory for the first time in their World Cup history, were downed 91-83 by Africa's No1-ranked side after fielding a second-string team and letting a 15-point lead midway through the third quarter slip.
With a trip to the round-of-16 game already secured, Lemanis made a pre-match decision to rest his two best performing players of the tournament.
Star centre Aron Baynes and the sharp-shooting Joe Ingles did not play, while fellow starters Matthew Dellavedova and David Andersen had less than four minutes each.
Combined with Lithuania's 67-64 victory over Slovenia later in the evening, the loss conveniently dropped Australia down to third in Group D - moving them to the opposite side of the draw to the basketball powerhouse Americans until the semifinals.
