San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills and the Australian Men’s National Basketball team suffered their first loss at the 2016 Rio games Wednesday, after putting pressure on the United States Men’s National Basketball team for a majority of the game, but eventually, the us made more tough shots down the stretch to win the match 98-88.
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The Americans outlasted the upset-minded Aussies 98-88 as Anthony scored a game-high 31 points, 14 of them in the fourth quarter, and Irving sank 12 of his 19 in the last period. He hit several shots, the most impressive of which was the three pointer after Australia had been able to shorten the lead to four points in the final moments of the game.
The two teams entered the encounter yet to lose at the Games and finished the first quarter tied before Australia took a five-point lead into half-time.
The U.S. men’s national basketball team survived its first legitimate test of the Olympics, led by a player who became Team USA’s all-time leading scorer in the process. We knew that coming in – this team has a knack for being a little dirty.
Meanwhile the United States rode the hot hands of Kyrie Irving (19 points) and Carmelo Anthony (31 points).
Mills was enormous and regretted the fact that the Boomers “had every opportunity to push that game. we still lost the game, it doesnt mean anything”. Today, the United States trailed the Australian Men’s National Team at the half, 54-49.
Against a fiercely competitive Australian crew, Anthony had to make history in order to save Team USA. Bogut also made it clear that the Boomers were not in the 2016 Rio Olympics to “get their shoes signed” by Team USA. He shot 11-of-21 from the field and 9-of-15 from beyond the arc, while his teammates combined to shoot 23-of-66 and 8-of-24.
“This is the real world now, and that was good for us”.
Anthony scored 14 points in the first quarter, when Australia and the Americans both posted 29 points in total. They continue with group play on Friday against Serbia.
Day five of the mens Olympic basketball preliminaries, saw two undefeated teams go head to head, with each team looking to stay atop the rankings in Group-A. He beat his own record for the most points an Australian has scored against the USA Team.
Australia matched each United States run and trailed by just three heading into the fourth.
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The Aussies’ cohesiveness was evident as the forced the U.S. to get away from a more selfish brand of basketball that was good enough against China and Venezuela, but wasn’t as effective against a stronger opponent. Andrew Bogut delivered a hard foul to Kevin Durant on a drive that ruffled the Americans’ feathers. “The second is that they’re not invincible because we had a close game”.
