VIDEO: Patty Mills reflects on his NBA career, the Olympics and the importance of managing time

Time+Tide

Locally known as “the Boomers”, the Australian basketball team had never won a medal in international basketball. They’d suffered five losses in Olympic semi-finals, four in Olympic bronze medal matches and one in a World Cup bronze medal match. That was until last Saturday night when they beat Slovenia 107-93 to clinch the Olympic bronze.

At the heart of it all was star player Patty Mills who carried the team notching up 42 points, nine assists and three rebounds.

This was the Mills’ fourth Olympic Games. He’d burst onto the scene as a teenager at the 2008 Olympics, before claiming the top point-scoring average in London 2012. Disaster struck for Mills at Rio 2016, when he gave away the foul that cost Australia the bronze. But last week, the San Antonio Spurs player finally got the Olympic medal he craved. That’s a good enough reason for us to look back at this video we recorded with Patty Mills back in 2016, in which Australia’s co-flag bearer discusses how he’s learnt to manage time, on and off the court.