A reflective Patty Mills has all but passed on the Boomers' baton after his heroics fell short in an overtime Olympics quarter-final loss to Serbia.
Nikola Jokic had the last laugh as the world's No.2 side set an Olympic record to come from 24 points down to beat Australia 95-90 and line up a semi-final against the United States.
In what was surely his last Games outing, Mills (26 points) was immense as the Boomers burst out of the blocks but then blew it.
The five-time Olympian hit a clutch bucket to take their Paris quarter-final to overtime and Australia were in the box seat again.
But, down three, reigning and three-time NBA MVP Jokic took control with two stops, including a crucial swipe off the rim, and two buckets to have the final say on Monday.
Coach Brian Goorjian said it was the best basketball he'd seen from an Australian side in any of his four Olympic campaigns.
"But when it came to the nut-crunching time, turnovers were our issue in the whole tournament," he said.
The next World Cup is in 2027 and Mills will turn 36 on Sunday.
Along with fellow five-time Olympian Joe Ingles (37 in October) and Matthew Dellavedova (33) - both rarely used in Paris - it was likely Mills' final fling in a side destined to be led by 21-year-old point guard Josh Giddey (25 points, five rebounds, four assists, seven turnovers).
“We’ve just enjoyed every moment of this journey," said Mills.
He steered the Boomers to a breakthrough Tokyo bronze three years ago, relief after the pain of four gut-wrenching fourth-placed finishes for the program.
“It hasn’t been a smooth-sailing ship, but you do it together and you never take those moments for granted," Mills said.
"But through the thick and thin and ups and downs, happy tears, sad tears, it’s been an incredible journey to be able to share with those guys.”
Jokic finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, Serbia scoring the game's final eight points just as Australia had shot to a three-point overtime lead.
Twenty turnovers hurt Australia, who began their Olympic campaign by beating Spain but were then exposed in losses to Canadian, Greek and Serbian teams piloted by NBA superstars.
"We threw everything we could at them and didn't have enough in the tank at the end of the day," Mills said.
Mills went berserk either side of quarter time in a 20-point Australian run that put them 22 clear.
He made seven of nine shots in that streak, most of them tough pull-up jumpers, as the 35-year-old wound back the clock with 16 points in less than four minutes.
At the height of his run Mills (18 points) was beating Serbia (17) on his own, Australia shooting at 80 per cent in an opening half that seemed too good to be true.
“To be honest, I don’t know if there’s anything going through my mind at that stage," Mills said.
Duop Reath's three-pointer made it a 24-point lead before Serbia stopped the rot and Jokic got involved, jeers from the crowd when Aleksa Avramovic flopped only spurring them on.
The Boomers lost all rhythm and lead had suddenly evaporated to four when Mills slipped on the first play after a time-out, Ognjen Dobric's triple making it a one-point game.
Australia's offence ground to a halt the Boomers scoring just 11 points in the third term to lose the lead.
Jack McVeigh (13 points) kept Australia close with seven fourth-quarter points before a Giddey corner three tied the game with three minutes to play
Down by two, Mills had the final shot of regular time and hit a tough floater in traffic to send the game to overtime, the Boomers bench pleading for a technical foul when the Serbian coach called for a timeout they didn't have.
“You live for those moments," Mills said.
“Down two, as a little kid, in the backyard, underneath the clothesline in Australia.
"You imagine yourself in those moments, being able to hit a big shot in the Olympic Games to force overtime.
"We gave ourselves a chance. At the end of the day, it wasn’t our day.”
The US thrashed Brazil 122-87 while France and Germany also progressed to the final four.
