That was the approach Boomers coach Brian Goorjian took to his team's bronze-medal showdown with Slovenia on Saturday.

The mastercoach oversaw an unbeaten run through the pre-Olympic warm-up campaign, and the Group stages in Tokyo.

He put in place a team defence that gave Team USA all they could handle through one half of the quarter-finals. With bronze on the line though, he deferred to veterans Patty Mills and Joe Ingles.

Having first coached the pair at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he knew only they could haul the Boomers up over that medal hump 12 years later.

"[It's] really quite simple when you get to this game and to this point," Goorjian said.

"It was really the two guys next to me (Mills and Ingles) who were the most invested in this - 12 years of work to do something that our country has never, ever done.

"Basically the game-plan and what took place was put the ball in these two's hands to make decisions in the half-court offense and carry the ball. We kept things pretty simplistic and it was something that they wanted and they wanted control of.

"It was decided before the game that was where we were going to go offensively and we put numbers on the board that we haven't put on through the tournament. These two decided the game for us."

Mills produced a legacy-defining 42 points and eight assists, while Ingles had 16 points and nine rebounds as they took control of the offense.

Read more: 'Boomers Patty' puts exclamation point on Olympic legacy with bronze-medal masterclass

Having been through all he heartache of fourth-place finishes and near misses, Ingles said their pair weren't about to let it slip.

"Patty and I went to the AIS together from when we were 16, every summer for 12 years we have come together to build towards this moment," Ingles said.

"We have pushed each other it's always been such a focus for us, it's so special to be able to do it with Patty. Patty bought it home for us, he isn't just a hell of a basketball player, he is a hell of a great guy. It's a pleasure to share the court with him."

He may have put the ball in the hands of his elder statesman, but the Boomers effort at the defensive end had Goorjian's fingerprints all over it.

He switched up his starting unit to put defensive ace Mattise Thybulle on Slovenian megastar Luka Doncic - whose 22 points came at a lowly 7-20 from the field - while Aussies had 19 points from turnovers.

It was the type of team defence Goorjian implemented at the Hawks last NBL season, taking the foundation club back to playoffs in his first NBL campaign in 12 years. It was his 22^nd consecutive trip to the post-season in an NBL career that's netted an unmatched six championships with three clubs.

Steering the Boomers to a breakthrough Olympic medal after 14 previous attempts further defines a legacy unlikely to be matched.

"The feeling is unbelievably special," Goorjian said.

"I've never felt as knotted up on game day, it tells me how big this is. I've never felt like this. I've coached obviously - look at me - for a million years and I've never, on game day, felt as knotted up.

"I'm nervous before games but I've never been like this. I'm certain I didn't show it but it tells me how big this is. The hardest part of this job for me was taking [the opportunity] because these two guys (Mills and Ingles), what they've put into it, you can't describe.

"You have to be in the room and feel it and see it and the thought of letting them down, and the thought of the alternative to this, was horrifying to me.

"All I was thinking today was, 'This has just got to happen, this has just got to happen.'"