They outscored the United States 44-22 in the paint.
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Miroslav Raduljica scored 16 points for Serbia (1-2), which fell into a 20-4 hole in front of top-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic, who watched his home country after he was eliminated in singles earlier in the Olympics.
But as great as the performance was with Mills scoring an awesome 30 points, one less than Anthony’s game-high tally, and Dellavedova dishing off 11 assists to go with 11 points for a double/double, the Boomers players would be hurting after playing so well and getting so close.
In a huge upset this morning, Australia’s men’s basketball team The Boomers have practically beaten the United States Dream Team.
They were still right in the match deep into the final quarter. They swept the tournaments in 2008 and 2012 and arrived in Rio poised to do the same.
But typical of the match, the Aussies were not overawed and responded with some big plays of their own, Bogut dunking from a Matthew Dellavedova assist then Mills hitting a three-pointer on the fast break for a 10-9 advantage. In short, most didn’t expect Wednesday’s game to be quite so close.
In the final leg of the relay, Ledecky came from behind to beat Australia as the US won in 7:43.03.
“We’ve still got some stuff to work on.” added Bogut.
“We beat a heck of a team tonight”, Krzyzewski said.
It might not have been a clinic, but the Americans felt like they had learned something.
“Well, he’s just a continuance of the Australian teams that we’ve played against in my 11 years”, the Duke coach said of Dellavedova after Tuesday’s practice. “We lost”, he said.
Missy Franklin, who had qualified second in the 200 free at usa trials six weeks ago, did not get to swim the final, adding to a disappointing week for the darling of the London Games. “He’s he reason we won this”.
That might be true – unless the game created a blueprint of sorts. The Aussies hung tight, they played a great game.
Venezuela power forward Nestor Colmenares made the two plays of the game down the stretch. “With this group there’s that little bit of a sense that it’s time – we need to do something special on the world stage”, coach Andrej Lemanis admitted.
When Draymond Green lines up for Team USA on Wednesday night, there will be a familiar face on the opposite side – Australian center Andrew Bogut, his Warriors teammate of four years.
“So do I”, Lemanis said. It’s always great to put yourself up against the best, that’s what you live for.
The three-time Olympic medalist was playing in his 26th Olympic game, also a USA record.
Australia’s Damian Martin (15) knocks the ball from United States’ Kevin Durant (5) during a men’s basketball game at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016. “We’re going to have to do a better job matching them”. “But we weren’t thinking about 2004 tonight”.
Never did they trail by more than six points in the first half – and that was only in the opening minute after back-to-back three-pointers to Anthony.
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A USA team that had won its first two games without breaking a sweat trailed early in the fourth quarter before Anthony hit a flurry of 3-pointers to put the Americans on top.
