Sometimes, it seems like yesterday when Carmelo Anthony was a highly-touted rookie out of Syracuse, debuting in the same rookie class that gave us LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
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“We knew we were going to get their best”, George said via FOX Sports Australia’s Tony Harper.
“The match is a big picture of why we are here”. She broke the mark early in the third quarter and finished the game with six 3’s to set a new U.S. Olympic mark.
“They’re a very talented, very athletic and long team and they’re number one in the world for a reason”.
But whatever United States head coach Mike Krzyzewski said to his team at the interval certainly had an effect as his side came out with all guns blazing and they took an early lead in the third quarter.
Irving finished with 19 points and a team-high five assists, while Anthony went 9-for-15 from behind the arc and led United States of America with 31 points. He stroked 9-15 from three point range enroute to game high honors.
It was a physical contest, Bogut relishing the contest down low with DeAndre Jordan, while defensive dynamo Dellavedova also orchestrated Australia’s attack.
“No disrespect to U.S., but we don’t want to get into an Olympics aiming for second or fourth or ninth”.
Mills top scored for the Boomers at half-time with 15 points closely followed by Bogut on 13 and Damien Martin on 10, with Matthew Dellavedova setting up numerous scores.
Asked if the Americans could be beaten, longtime National Basketball Association player and assistant Australian coach Luc Longley didn’t exactly offer a lot of hope.
Anthony has played in 26 Olympic games, another US record.
The U.S. men trailed at halftime 54-49, marking the first time that had happened in Olympic play since the semifinals of the 2004 Games, when the team lost to Argentina en route to a disappointing bronze medal.
The Americans have now won 71 consecutive games in all, 48 in FIBA and FIBA Americas competition.
Still, as much as Anthony did on this night, the Australians came away with a positive view of the night, led by 30 points from Patty Mills and bolstered by 11 points and 11 assists from Matthew Dellavedova, plus 15 points and three blocked shots from Andrew Bogut.
“We’ve got things to clean up, the offensive rebounds really hurt us”, Bogut said.
They battled for rebounds, fought over loose balls. The team crushed China on Monday, 88-60, then got the one-point victory over Serbia.
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The Americans, so carefree in their opener that reserves DeMar DeRozan and Jimmy Butler played rock, paper, scissors to determine who would shoot a free throw, realized they were in a fight in this one. Australia were leading for a good deal of the game and thoroughly scared the shit out of the U.S. stars and their supporters.
