Andrew Gaze lashes out as Boomers dudded by illegal move that went unpunished at Olympics

Amid the heartbreak of the Boomers' brutal exit from the Olympics on Tuesday night, one could make a case that Australia were dudded out of two technical fouls that could have seen them win. Aussie basketball legend Andrew Gaze was left fuming at some of Serbia's tactics, and there were also some suggestions Australia were denied free throws to win the game at the death.

The Boomers missed out on a medal in devastating fashion, going down 95-90 in over-time. Nikola Jokic had the last laugh as the World's No.2 side set a new Olympic record by erasing a 24-point deficit to beat Australia. In what was almost-certainly his last Olympics, Patty Mills was immense for the Boomers - but to no avail.

But amid the crushing defeat, Gaze was left unimpressed by some of the dodgy tactics from Serbia and felt the Boomers should have won a tech foul in the second quarter. Aleksa Avramovic drew the most ire from Gaze after he produced a blatant flop and tried to trick the referee into giving Will Magnay a flagrant foul.

Avramovic hit the floor in apparent agony, but replays showed there was only minor contact from Magnay. The match officials conducted a long review, but eventually ruled the incident didn't meet the criteria "of an act of violence" and Magnay wasn't punished.

But Gaze was left filthy that Avramovic got away with the blatant flop and wasn't hit with a tech foul. Under FIBA rules, a tech foul can be assessed if a player fakes being fouled, and the refs can award a free-throw as punishment.

"No, you don't need that. That's an indictment on the game when you're doing that type of stuff," Gaze said on Channel 9. "He's hearing the boos too. I reckon the fans agree that perhaps it's too much... please give me a spell. Come on. Now, that should be a technical foul for a flop. And Australia should be going to the line to shoot a free throw. There's nothing in that whatsoever."

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Should the Boomers have been given a late technical foul?

And there was also controversy in the dying seconds after Mills hit a clutch bucket to tie the scores. Down by two points with seconds remaining, Mills had the final shot of regular time and hit a tough floater in traffic to send the game to over-time.

But there were suggestions the Serbia coach might have asked for a timeout they didn't have as the clock ran down, which the referees could have assessed as a tech foul and given the Boomers a free-throw to win the game. FIBA rules are the same as the NBA in that calling for a timeout that a team doesn't have should result in a tech and free-throw.

It would have been a brutal call that some on social media said a referee would never make, but others were left crying foul and claimed the Boomers were dudded. "How in the world is that not a technical foul on Serbia, for taking a timeout that they don't have?" one person wrote.

It arguably should have resulted in the Boomers going to the free-throw line with a chance to win the game. Instead, they had to go to over-time and Jokic proved the hero for Serbia with two stops and two buckets.

"You live for those moments," Mills said of his clutch shot. "Down two, as a little kid, in the backyard, underneath the clothesline in Australia. You imagine yourself in those moments, being able to hit a big shot in the Olympic Games to force overtime. We gave ourselves a chance. At the end of the day, it wasn't our day."

with AAP