The Australians handed Greg Popovic's team
their second consecutive warm-up loss ahead of the Tokyo
Olympics after the Americans lost to Nigeria on Saturday.
While the United States are hot favourites for gold at the
Games, Australia's men are aiming to win an Olympic medal for
the first time having previously finished fourth four times.
"We understand, at the start of this campaign, that for us to be
able to be really competitive and achieve our goals we need to
hang our hat on the defensive end, especially against an
athletic team like the United States," Mills told NBC.
"Getting out in transition and making easy lay-ups and dunks,
for us to take away that was pretty impressive for our second
game.
"But we're not satisfied. We've got a long way to go."
San Antonio Spurs point guard Mills scored 22 points while Joe
Ingles hit 17 points but Australia's defence was crucial.
"Winning is one thing, the process is another," said Boomers
coach Brian Goorjian.
"We moved the ball better, got better shots and defensively
figured things out."
Australia are in Group B at the Olympics alongside Germany,
Italy and Nigeria while the United States, who have won the gold
medal at six of the last seven Games, are in Group A with Iran,
France and the Czech Republic.
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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