If he keeps up this pace and the USA plays the maximum eight games, Anthony could also approach Kevin Durant’s records for three-pointers attempted and made in a single Olympics.
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Now they’ve finally had a game that wasn’t. 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.
Australia provided more trouble than Coach K’s team has seen yet during this Olympic run. “We knew we could play with anyone coming in”. “This was a really good night for us”. The 98-88 scoreline does not do justice to the close nature of play. The Australians, with big bodies inside, quality point guards to counter the American pressure and a wealth of National Basketball Association championship experience, stood toe to toe with the team that had blown them out of the past two Olympics in the quarterfinals. The Australians led by as many as eight.
It was good for Australia, too, though the Boomers had to wonder if anyone can beat the US after just falling short in their best effort.
“Australians can compete with anyone”, Aussie guard Matthew Dellavedova said. There’s no intimidation factor, and there shouldn’t be. In a game where Team USA identified Mills as their greatest offensive threat, he still played well.
“I mean Australia has probably played the best of anybody in the Olympics”. The Australian Boomers led the scoreboards 54-49 after the first half.
Patty Mills, who led Australia with 30 points, could only admire Anthony. Australia shot the ball well, going at 58 percent. Once the United States gets through preliminary action, we get to the medal round. and maybe the Americans meet the Aussies again, featuring Patty Mills (30 points) and Matthew Dellavedova (a double-double with 11 points, 11 assists and six rebounds) and most of all Bogut (12 points on 7-of-9 shooting with three blocks), who has Dallas (and Cuban) rooting for him. again, because you see some of the same attitude from him in Rio that you want brought to the Mavs. They swept the tournaments in 2008 and 2012 and arrived in Rio poised to do the same.
“We beat a heck of a team tonight”, Krzyzewski said. “They’re the best team in the world and we battled them and we thought we should be in a better position to grind out a closer game”.
Canada’s win also clinched a spot in the quarterfinals for the United States, and the teams will play Friday with the unbeaten Canadians needing a better start than they managed against the African nation still looking for its first Olympic win in its second games.
“This is the real world now”, Krzyzewski said.
It might not have been a clinic, but the Americans felt like they had learned something.
“For this group, that was the first real worldwide game”, said Krzyzewski, who will step down as US coach after the Rio Games.
“Our competition up to this point has not been preparing us to the degree we’d like it to”, Colangelo said. “It definitely got real”.
“He’s our rock. He’s going to hold us down, and I expect him to do that”.
That might be true – unless the game created a blueprint of sorts.
They played the first quarter nearly as well as they could’ve hoped in taking a 17-16 lead before Taurasi keyed a 15-4 run with three straight 3s. His team offered no apologies for the physical play.
However Boomers assistant coach Luc Longley wasn’t having any of it, saying: ‘Tell ’em that’s global basketball’. This U.S. team had its first practice together less than a month ago. “We have a different feeling now and we want to keep that going”.
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Anthony hit nine three-pointers as he became USA’s all-time leading scorer at the Games during his 14-point fourth quarter. Anthony scored to tie it, hit a 3-pointer to give the Americans the lead for good, and then hit a couple more 3s that pushed it to 83-76.
