The first American male basketball player to appear in four Olympics, Anthony also passed LeBron James as the most prolific scorer to ever wear a United States of America jersey.
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Anthony scored 31 points and grabbed eight rebounds on the night he became the USA men’s Olympic career scoring leader, combining with Irving for all the Americans’ baskets in the fourth quarter of a 98-88 victory over Australia on Wednesday.
Irving has a tendency to hit clutch 3-pointers late in the game, and Australia fans probably felt exactly how Warriors fans felt at the end of game 7.
“Anthony, who set the United States all-time Olympic scoring mark in the first quarter, 31 points, including nine three-pointers”.
National Basketball Association stars Patty Mills (30 points), Andrew Bogut (15 points) and Matthew Dellavedova (11 points) lead the Boomers scoring.
The Americans trailed at halftime by five marking the first time the U.S. national team trailed at halftime in an Olympic game since 2004.
Anthony’s Olympic odyssey began with a disappointing performance in Athens, where the Americans staggered to a bronze medal and worldwide embarrassment. But he can claim an NCAA title over his Banana Boat buddies, the Olympic scoring record and perhaps four gold medals after these Games.
With a 70-67 lead going into the fourth, Carmelo stepped up big time. Witness all the answers unfold as you watch the game live.
The Boomers next play China, while the US face Serbia. The lone loss, the one that Anthony talks about so often as the only remaining member of that squad, was the game against Greece in the 2006 World Championships in Japan that led to their bronze medal finish.
A more emphatic response from the United States was expected in the second half and it duly came, with tight defence restricting the Boomers to just 13 third-quarter points.
The U.S.is now 3-0 in preliminary action at the 2016 Olympics. Sheer talent – and some timely 3’s from Carmelo Anthony – saved the Americans, but the Boomers from Down Under exposed some weaknesses even if they were not able to get the final job done. They trailed by eight points on yet another Anthony three over Baynes with just under four minutes to play, but were showing no signs of surrender. “Now I feel we’re back to our identity and we’re playing a lot better”. He said he wanted to be part of something great and always loved the culture of the Boomers.
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Since Thompson, reportedly, requested to come off the bench in order to find his rhythm after being uncharacteristically mired in a shooting slump through Team USA’s first two pool games, Paul George was inserted into the starting lineup at shooting guard for the red, white, and blue, scoring only five points on six shot attempts as the two-way star battled foul trouble and appeared to struggle to find his fit alongside his fellow starters early.
