The Aussies’ held the lead at halftime, but Anthony and Irving found their groove in the second half carrying Team USA in a hard-fought win. The US had won it via its three-point shooting at 44 percent after making 17 of 39.
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Ultimately, they proved too strong in the last.
Carmelo Anthony led a comeback against David Andersen and a tough Australia squad.
Here’s how everyone reacted to the epic contest. Andrew Bogut tallied 15 points, and Matthew Dellavedova turned in a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards. “I would say if Carmelo played on any team long enough he would be the leading scorer, that’s the kind of scorer that he is”. “This is the real world now”.
“We thought we could compete with these guys and in the first half we showed that”, said Matthew Dellavedova, who helped the Cleveland Cavaliers win the National Basketball Association title in June. He added, “We still lost the game, it doesn’t mean anything”, Mashable quotes.
“We’ve got to watch the tape, get better and hopefully get another crack at them”.
Anthony moved past LeBron James as the USA leader in Olympic scoring, using a hot start to make up the 11-point advantage James had entering the game. “I know everyone’s proud of us because we weren’t supposed to beat these guys, but we had the belief we could compete with them and we’re disappointed with the result”.
Anthony was the rock that kept Team USA rolling through Olympic play, posting 31 points and going 9-15 from three-point land.
Born in Melbourne, Kyrie Irving could so easily have been a Boomer. “He’s the reason we won tonight”.
Krzyzewski pointed out that the core of Australia’s team has been together for several years and most of his players have had limited exposure to the global game. He didn’t look for his shot hardly at all with his three shot attempts, but did have a couple nice possessions on defense in Team USA’s seemingly “we can switch everything because we’re that damn good” defensive attack in the half-court. “That has to be what you expect”.
The New York Knicks star had a game-high 31 points in USA’s hard-fought 98-88 win over Australia in Group A. Team USA is in an unenviable position.
The Australians, naturally, just feel that they play hard, to the whistle, and that if you can’t stand the heat, you should get out of the kitchen.
Australia was led in scoring by Patty Mills.
Colangelo was watching courtside as the team he built on the theory that chemistry is just as important as talent struggled to contain Australia defensively and was taken out of its offensive flow by the aggressive play of the Australians.
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In what was one of the most competitive games since the 2008 Gold Medal Game against Spain, Australia made the United States work for every point.
