Rio de Janeiro: Matthew Dellavedova has inspired Australia to a second straight victory at the Rio Olympics, racking up a double-double to help the Boomers edge out Serbia on Monday.

The Milwaukee-bound NBA superstar was instrumental in Australia's 95-80 victory, collecting 23 points and 11 assists to give the Boomers a shot of confidence heading into their mouth-watering showdown against the unstoppable force that is the United States men's basketball team.

Not only is it the first time Australia have beaten Serbia at an Olympic Games, it's also the first time the Boomers have opened their campaign with back-to-back wins.

Patty Mills top-scored with 26 points, while Andrew Bogut and Aron Baynes combined for 19 points to help the Boomers recover from a seven point deficit in the third quarter.

But the star of the show was Dellavedova.

"His dedication to his art is sensational," coach Andrej Lemanis said.

"Just the amount of work he puts in everyday, you see him getting better. When he's around good people and players he absorbs that knowledge and learns. It's one of those things in life, when you're always with the younger kids you talk about if you work hard and stay humble and focus on the day to day, good things will happen for you.

"When you see good things happen to someone like Delly, you know something is right in the world. It's the way it's supposed to be."

With tennis superstar Ana Ivanovic - formerly referred to as 'Aussie Ana' during her relationship with golfer Adam Scott - in the stands supporting her compatriots, the Boomers gatecrashed the Serbian party to increase their chances of a medal in Rio.

According to the hype, these Boomers are the drought-breakers. The ones who will end Australia's long-standing Olympic medal dry-spell for the men.

Gold? Extremely unlikely - even with a second string USA team docked just outside of Rio on a luxury cruise ship.

Without Ben Simmons, Dante Exum and Thon Maker, the Boomers still have the big three in the NBA championship-winning trio of Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova leading the charge.

"Everyone else has to catch up [to America]," Bogut said.

"It is what it is. They've lost games before in the past. But obviously they are the favourites and probably if you put a million dollars on them you'll get a dollar back if you bet on them. That's a great challenge for us. That will really put us in the mindset of seeing what we have to do to make our offence and defence better."

The Aussie big three combined for the Boomers' first 19 points, which included a rare triple for Bogut from way downtown to give the Aussies an early lead against an aggressive Serbian line-up.

An equally aggressive Serbian coach, Aleksandar Đorđević, was given a technical foul for mouthing off at the officials in the first quarter, while Baynes also found himself in hot water for a stray elbow.

The two first-up winners so desperately want to finish second in the group to avoid the US for as long as possible in the knockout stage of the competition, knowing full well the winner on Monday would give themselves every chance of doing so.

The Serbians did well to fight their way back into the contest late in the second half after conceding four threes in the first seven minutes, heading to the break holding on to a 43-40 lead.

Serbia started the second half in sublime touch, knocking down three consecutive triples to edge out to a seven point lead, before Dellavedova - who got under the skin of the opposition - came to life.

It has set up a reunion of sorts for Australia's NBA players against the Americans with whom they have experienced ultimate success.

"Those guys are guys you will always remember and guys you'll always have a friendship with," Bogut said of Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes.

"I saw Kyrie [Irving] said the same thing about Delly. When you win a championship with a group of guys, it doesn't happen very often and you always remember that."