“He said, ‘You could be the starting point guard on the U.S. Olympic team.'” Playing for Team Australia would have disqualified Irving from suiting up for Team USA at any point, which is why Coach K strongly advised against doing so.
Advertisement
“This is the real world now and that’s good for us”, coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Finally tested, Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving had the answers.
Just like he did against the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals, Irving came up big in the fourth quarter to down the Aussies and help lead Team USA to a 98-88 win.
Kyrie Irving nearly passed on the opportunity to play for Team USA one day in order to play for Australia back when he was a teenager, according to Michael Lee of The Vertical.
Kyrie Irving said he considered playing for Team Australia’s under-18 before he made it to the National Basketball Association.
U.S. Olympic scoring title in hand, Anthony was a force on offense all night long.
The Americans, who had barely broken a sweat in Brazil, trailed early in the fourth quarter before Anthony hit a flurry of 3-pointers to put the Americans on top.
Talented no doubt, but playing with 10 first-time Olympians and six players with no prior global experience at the senior level, the Americans needed a challenge after five lopsided pre-Olympic exhibition games and two blowout Olympics games against China and Venezuela. He understood it would be a long climb for him to be recognized as one of the top point guards in the USA with Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry and Deron Williams among those ahead of him in the deep American pool.
It makes him as capable player who bring as many as 72 consecutive victories for America.
USA coach Mike Krzyzewski was emotional, confronting Greek referee Christos Christodoulou over a foul call at one stage in the crucial third quarter.
George never found the rhythm that allowed him to shoot 6 of 7 and score 20 points in the usa win over Venezuela.
“The experience of playing in a game at that level with that physicality and intensity was not there in our exhibition games and in our first two (Rio) games”.
“We knew we were going to get their best”, said George, who started for the first time here but had just five points in 17 minutes.
It was the second straight game the Americans were tied after one quarter.
They used a 15-3 burst to make it 46-39, and Krzyzewski actually needed a timeout to calm his team that by then can usually make its postgame plans.
Advertisement
Tony Parker made a jumper with 31 seconds remaining as France rallied down the stretch after blowing a huge early lead to beat Serbia 76-75 in an Olympic men’s basketball game Wednesday. Irving was born in Melbourne when his father was playing in the country.
