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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Before getting the wrong idea about Andrew Bogut, the Mavs' newest center and the soul of Australia's national team, you should know he was only having a little fun when he complained about the accommodations in the athletes village and was called a "sook" by critics back home. Didn't mean anything by his Twitter war with a female Australian player.

What's that? What about the poor guy in drug testing here? Oh, yeah. Right.

"What's up man?" Bogut said as the man handed him a pee cup. "You gonna watch me (. . .)?

"That you?"

That's Bogut, all right. This is, too: Comes back from a left knee injury that left him questionable for the Olympics as late as last week to fashion what was nearly an embarrassing night for the U.S. and its waves of All-Stars, until Carmelo Anthony and Co. preserved its dignity in a 98-88 win Wednesday.

Before it got a little out of hand at the end, the Boomers, as the Australians call themselves, surprised the Americans with their teamwork, their physicality, their intelligence, their grit.

That's Bogut, too.

"Yeah," Harrison Barnes said, smiling, "that's pretty much what you're gonna see from him.

"Smart player. Always makes the right play."

Barnes knows Bogut better than most. His rookie year with Golden State in 2012-13, he lockered next to the veteran. Soon they became good friends, which is better than the alternative with Bogut.

"He doesn't sugarcoat at all," Barnes said. "Whether it's fashion, sports, politics, religion, he holds no bars. That's why we clicked."

Bogut is as blunt as one of his bone-rattling screens, as Kyrie Irving will tell you. Irving ran into the first one Wednesday while chasing the ball upcourt, then spent the next few seconds trying to put himself back together again. Later, out on a break all by himself, Irving once again met Bogut head-on, with similar results. Crash-test dummies have softer gigs.

Bogut, by the way, makes no bones about his style. An anonymous survey of NBA players, coaches and assistants recently concluded that Bogut and his Australian teammate, Matthew Dellavedova, were among the NBA's dirtiest players. Bogut takes issue with the characterization, but not the style. Last spring he told reporters, "I am going out there to try and nail guys on screens to get my teammates open. A hundred percent."

The results are effective, if not exactly pretty. His line against the U.S.: 15 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 3 blocks and a steal in 26 minutes. In three Olympic games, including an upset of France, he's 19-of-23 from the floor, which sounds better than it sometimes looked.

For example: At one point in the first half, as he stood at the top of the key with the front of his jersey in his mouth, a Dellavedova pass clanked off his body. Bogut collected the ball and - jersey still in mouth - sunk a sort of side-armed scoop.

Asked why his jersey was in his mouth, Bogut said, "I was just getting a little hungry mate. Just trying to get a proper meal."

The sense of humor often belies what he brings. Andrej Lemanis, Australia's coach, talked of how the defensive plan was "clean and crystal clear" with Bogut behind it directing traffic. But what impresses Lemanis most is both the confidence he instills in his teammates and his commitment to return after injuring his knee in the playoffs.

He spent a few minutes on the bench in the second half, an athletic trainer massaging his left knee. If you think the sight might have scared Mark Cuban, who's not really a fan of these little international affairs staffed by the NBA's talent, you should know he has Cuban's blessing. He said the Mavs' owner told him, "If you feel like you're 100 percent and you feel like your knee is a go, we're going to support you."

If he's clearly not a hundred percent, he's good enough to make Australia a gold medal contender, at least in the mind of Mike Krzyzewski. Bogut, too.

"We're disappointed," he said of the loss to the U.S. "The Australian media is saying, 'You guys did great.' No we didn't. We lost. We're not gonna take moral victories. That's an attitude change with this group of guys.

"Guys were kind of afraid of saying 'gold medal.' Not let's get a medal. Let's get the gold.

"We'll live with what we got after we get it."

What you get with Bogut, clearly, is a lot. Maybe more than you expected. Like, I'm going to need an Australian culture primer.

What the heck is a sook?

Twitter: @KSherringtonDMN