STar man: Carmelo Anthony goes for the loose ball against Cameron Bairstow.
Advertisement
Carmelo Anthony is the most prolific scorer in USA men’s Olympic basketball history. He also had 8 rebounds and 2 steals and the Americans starved off a late fightback from the Australians.
“Nathan’s 10 years older than me and already an Olympic champion so being next to him was pretty daunting for me but I knew I had to stick to my guns”.
USA coach Mike Krzyzewski was emotional, confronting Greek referee Christos Christodoulou over a foul call at one stage in the crucial third quarter. Anything less than a blowout feels out of character for the two-time defending gold medalists, and with less than two minutes in this game, Australia only trailed by four.
“We knew we was going to get their best, ” he said.
The Australian team features six National Basketball Association players: Bogut, Mills, Dellavedova, Baynes, Cameron Bairstow and Joe Ingles.
In the final leg of the relay, Ledecky came from behind to beat Australia as the US won in 7:43.03.
The Americans bounced back from a first-half deficit to avoid the upset, but Australia, led by Patty Mills’ 30 points, showed they’re no pushover.
Belgium’s Pieter Timmers finished second, defending Olympic champion Nathan Adrian from the United States came third, while fellow Aussie Cam McEvoy came in seventh.
In a battle of winless teams, Venezuela outlasted China for a 72-68 win, dealing a potentially fatal blow to China’s hopes of advancing.
The Boomers got a healthy cheer as they ran onto the court but there was an enormous roar when their megastar rivals appeared. After these early performances, it seems possible.
Groves, 21, became the first Australian to medal in the event since Jessicah Schipper took bronze in Beijing in 2008.
David Robinson (270) and Michael Jordan (256) are third and fourth on the all-time US list, respectively.
The close result helps reinforce the lesson that the US can not underestimate these teams.
It might not have been a clinic, but the Americans felt like they had learned something.
“They’re a very talented, very athletic and long team and they’re number one in the world for a reason”.
Kevin Durant: predicts medal rematch.
Krzyzewski said the clash with Australia was their first “real” match of the Rio games, taking plenty of positives out of a rare tough encounter for the team that has lost just five of 138 appearances at the Olympics. It probably won’t be the last.
It will be interesting to see how the Americans react to Wednesday’s game going into their matchup with Serbia on Friday. After a fumbled pass almost became a turnover, Parker managed to corral the ball, establish his dribble and open up some space with a little move. “We take pride in the USA we want to be considered the best – we just have to hold up our end”. One could make the case that this is the first time Anthony has been the undisputed leader of a championship-caliber team since that 2003 Syracuse squad.
That included the bookies in Las Vegas, who installed the USA team as a 27.5 point favorite after two laughers to open the tournament. The Boomers are in second because they have a better point differential (+26) than the French (+8) so far. The top four teams in each group advance to quarterfinals, so France is looking good now after the opening defeat. He also has the most experience by far of anyone on our team playing the global game.
Andersen was a critical in testing the swinging USA zone defence with 10 first-half points.
Advertisement
“We kind of expected a game like this – a physical game”, Anthony said. Serbia doesn’t have a talent who can go toe-to-toe with a red-hot Taurasi. “My teammates found me when I was open”. That’s pretty clearly nitpicking, though, because this team looks unstoppable at the moment.
