Basketball Australia (BA) has slammed suggestions the Boomers tanked at the World Cup, saying they are "downright wrong" and insult the country's sporting culture.
BA launched a defence of the Boomers on Tuesday after world governing body FIBA announced an investigation into their controversial loss to Angola.
The Boomers rested several key players, including star centre Aron Baynes and sharp-shooting veteran Joe Ingles, and let a 15-point lead slip against Africa's No.1 nation Angola in their final group game in Gran Canaria.
The 91-83 loss meant Australia could not face all-conquering USA until the semi-finals, sparking suggestions they deliberately lost.
It proved irrelevant after a 65-64 loss to Turkey in the sudden-death round of 16 game on Sunday, but BA must now formally defend the performance against Angola or face possible sanctions such as a fine.
"The on-court behaviour displayed by Australia in that game generated huge disappointment by basketball fans and experts," FIBA said in a statement.
"It is widely suspected that Australia lost that game in order to avoid having to face the reigning world champions USA until the semi-finals.
"Basketball Australia has an opportunity to state its case before FIBA decides whether and to what extent disciplinary sanctions shall be imposed."
BA said it would fully co-operate with FIBA's investigation but rejected any suggestion the Boomers "were a party to contriving the result".
"The Australian Boomers went into the game against Angola to win - plain and simple," it said.
"Claims to the contrary are widely speculative, insulting to the Australian sporting culture and to our playing group who gave their very best throughout this tournament.
"They're downright wrong."
BA said it has put a strong and detailed case to FIBA justifying the decision to rest injured players and restrict game time for "fatigued" stars - notably Matthew Dellavedova and David Andersen.
"That decision was supported by clear and definitive medical advice," it added.
"The health and wellbeing of our players is paramount. The World Cup group stage schedule of five games in six days is, put simply, gruelling.
"Let us be extremely clear on this point: we, as Australians, always compete the right way.
"The Australian Boomers are renowned for their tenacity, competitiveness and hunger to win.
"As a world leader in integrity education, we welcome FIBA's scrutiny - and we look forward to a resolution which closes the book on these fundamentally inaccurate allegations."
Australian basketball great Andrew Gaze, who sits on BA's board, earlier labelled FIBA's probe a waste of time.
"It's not dealing with the facts," he said on Melbourne radio station SEN.
"I will be gutted and there should be people fired if they intentionally tanked. I stand by that.
"But I see this as player management, not as tanking.
"And now that we've lost, everyone's wants to go `ah, the karma bus hit you'.
"If they had won that game against Turkey, we wouldn't even be talking about this."
Gaze acknowledged that Australia went into the Angola match with some disregard toward losing but defended Lemanis' strategy.
"They were not concerned about the result," he said.
"The game means nothing. So why don't you player manage?
"But those players ... were absolutely, in my judgement, out there to win. No doubt about that."
Injured Boomer Andrew Bogut agreed with Gaze's comments while also questioning FIBA's integrity.
"Well said Gazey, very Well said regarding FIFA...i mean FIBA," he posted.
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