Goorjian poised top end Boomers medal drought

After grinding their way to three wins through the Group stages, the Aussies found their groove in a stunning blowout of former silver medalists Argentina on Tuesday night.

All 11 players got on the sheet as the Boomers turned an eight-point deficit midway through the opening quarter into an emphatic 97-59 victory that sets up a semi-final showdown with USA on Thursday.

Patty Mills again led scoring with 18 points and four assists, while Matisse Thybulle stuffed the sheet with 12 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists.

With Aron Baynes having been ruled out of the tournament, Jock Landale and Nick Kay continue to thrive in Goorjian's small-ball system, Landale finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists, with Kay grabbing a 10 and 10 double-double.

The Boomers sprinted through the finish tape, going on a 25-0 run from the end of the third quarter and outscoring Argentina 37-11 in the final term.

"I thought tonight, that again was the trademark, the push of the ball off the defence, really tight on our schemes, and the ball movement and the cutting was at a high level," Goorjian said.

"I felt really good, and I know the team did because the game was our style of game. We just felt like if we could get stops and run, eventually it would break.

"Eventually this team's going to knock shots down and once [the margin] got to 15, 17, you could tell their body language, we broke them. Once the dam breaks, in international ball, the scoreline moves quickly."

Having gone into the tournament without Ben Simmons and losing key big-man Baynes mid-stream, it's been a coaching masterclass from the six-time NBL championship-winner.

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He faces his biggest challenge yet on Thursday, putting his newly fashioned small-ball lineup against a US side stacked with stars and bolstered by the inclusion of NBA Finalists Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Devin Booker.

Goorjian's last push at an Olympic medal ended at the hands of the US in the quarter-finals in Beijing, something a young Mills was part of.

Three Olympics later, the Boomers skipper is setting a much higher bar.

"We haven't done shit yet," Mills said.

"The biggest thing is that you saw on the floor tonight a result of how tight this group is and how tight we believe in one another, and we're going to need to continue that moving forward.

"We're well experienced. We've been to this stage many a time and haven't crossed the line. But we've bottled those experiences up, and I think we're well prepared for this moment and for this stage to make the next step.

"There's a togetherness and a camaraderie within the extended group and a focus that is sharp on what we're trying to achieve here, and that collective unit together, it's powerful.

"It's a culture thing, it's an Australian spirit thing, it's doing it for the greater good, and we understand who we're doing it for."