Australia ~almost~ beat the U.S. in basketball and Twitter had a meltdown

So close. The U.S. edges out Australia in the basketball with a 98-88 win.
Image: Phil Walter/Getty Images

What. A. Game.

It's not often you see Team USA get a run for its money in basketball, but Australia did its very best Wednesday night (Rio time) at the Olympics.

Australia, nicknamed the Boomers, led by five points at halftime. Ultimately, the team's lead slipped away in the final quarter to lose 98-88 to the U.S. in a game that threatened to be a major upset for the world's number one ranked team.

That slim halftime lead gave Australian Twitter plenty of time to imagine "what if," though.

Despite Australia being ranked 11th, with less than half the roster playing basketball in the NBA, it seems the U.S. knew they were in for a hard fight.

"I mean we expected that, there are great players on that team," U.S. point guard Kyrie Irving, who was born in Australia and seriously considered representing the country, told Channel 7 after the match. 

Less impressed however was Australian captain Andrew Bogut, who thought they could have won it. "We had a great opportunity to push that game. We still lost the game, it doesn't mean anything," Bogut told Channel 7.

U.S. veteran Carmelo Anthony helped carry his team to victory, clocking up 31 points to get them across the line. Not too far behind however was Australian point guard Patty Mills, who was his team's top scorer at 30 points. 

Australia's Andrew Bogut notched up 15 points, while Matthew Dellavedova contributed with 11 points and 11 assists.

Australia take on China next, while the U.S. has Serbia to contend with Friday night Rio time.