Australia claimed a tough victory over Lithuania 87-82 in their third game in Group H on Thursday, making the second stage as No. 1 of the "Group of Death." Patty Mills shot down 23 points, the court's highest for the Boomers while Aron Baynes contributed 21 points and 13 rebounds.

Australia and Lithuania have completely different playstyles in the offense. The Boomers had no fixed pattern in launching attacks: it could be Mills, Joe Ingles or even the center Baynes to carry the ball through the half-court. Many of their scoring opportunities came from improvising including forcible, facial 3-pointers, a big man driving towards the rim from outside, or even alley-oop in a fast break.

Such a way of playing could not guarantee efficiency but was exciting to watch. Moreover, when Australian players remained hot, they could easily launch scoring runs like the 15-2 one in the first quarter to establish a double-digit lead.

By contrast, Lithuanian players did everything steadily in the offense. They always called for screens first, tried to get the ball through as many hands as possible, did not risky passing, and were earnest with every perimeter shot, floater or hook shot. The benefit of playing like this was that Lithuania almost made no mistake (committing no turnover in the first half) but the shortcoming was lack of explosive scoring ability.

In defense, the two teams shared something in common, they both like to get physical. But Lithuania preferred one-on-one defense while Australia never hesitated to double team the opponent, especially around the paint area.

Thanks to their sharper 3-pointers, Australia were the leading side for most of the time with an advantage of around 10 points. Every time Lithuania narrowed it down to six points, the Boomers were always able to ruin the opponents' efforts with an unreasonable 3-pointer or a sudden fast break.

Jonas Valanciunas was another reason for Lithuania's loss. In offense, he remained cold for the whole game and missed multiple shots under the defense of Baynes or Andrew Bogut. In defense, his defect of moving slow was exposed by Australia which kept shooting in the distance Valanciunas could not reach via screens.

Lithuania tried to change the disadvantageous situation by taking down Valanciunas and launched their offense around Domantas Sabonis who's more agile and faster. Nonetheless, this gave the Boomers an advantage in rebounds which led to 13-4 lead in second-chance points.

Things finally began to get better for Lithuania in the fourth quarter thanks to the team's bench depth. Having more people who can play on the court gave Lithuanian players better strength in the competition of the last quarter. By contrast, the Boomers grew to feel the impact of weariness, which caused them to slow down in defense and lose the magic touch.

The two sides kept exchanging leads in for three minutes before the game entered the last two minutes 76-76, which was the moment calling for true starts to act.

Mills stood out for the Boomers by making a turnaround jump shot and a valuable 3-pointer to help the team join the second-round competition with three wins. Australia and Lithuania will join France and the Dominican Republic for two spots in the quarterfinals.

Other games on Thursday:

Canada 82-60 Senegal

Brazil 84-73 Montenegro

Turkey 76-91 Czech Republic

Germany 96-62 Jordan

Greece 103-97 New Zealand

USA 98-45 Japan

Dominican Republic 56-90 France