Carmelo Anthony wears Jordan Melo M12 shoes.
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Five mostly D-E-E-P 3s from Durant in the first half, with a couple of memorable dunks thrown in, essentially clinched a record third goal medal early for teammate Carmelo Anthony and ensured that Mike Krzyzewski would bid farewell to the global game with a 76-game winning streak to take back to Duke.
“We never said we was gonna run through everybody”, Anthony told ESPN earlier in the tournament.
In the end, after he became America’s greatest scorer and rebounder in men’s Olympic basketball history, Carmelo Anthony stressed that his role went beyond playing basketball. It’s a comeback nearly hard to believe.
“The way that we locked in and that we focused in to be able to have this gold medal around our necks was special”, said Anthony.
The U.S. won its third straight gold medal, blowing out Serbia 96-66 in Rio on Sunday.
With 30 seconds remaining in the half, Team USA displayed perhaps their best exhibition of ball movement throughout the entire Olympics.
Team USA had built a comfortable lead into the third quarter. Six passes in the possession kept Serbia off balance and the end result was a wide open three for Kevin Durant. He matured as a person and found his voice, which he has used to address social issues at home. Earlier in the tournament, Anthony set the record for the most careers points by a us basketball player at the Games.
He showed commitment, dedication and heart.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling”, said Kyrie Irving, who followed up his first ever National Basketball Association championship in June with an Olympic gold. “It’s his passion for the country and his love for the game, that’s all that it comes down to”. With his seventh rebound in the game, he surpassed David Robinson with 125 boards in his Olympic career.
It was always going to be a big ask for Serbia to end the USA’s 10-year unbeaten run at the Games – which stretches back to Athens 2004, when they were stunned in the semi-finals by Argentina – although their attitude and aptitude had pushed them close in the Rio 2016 preliminary round.
It’s another sign of his maturity, which outgoing USA coach Mike Krzyzewski saw developing 10 years ago.
After the Americans lost to Greece in 2006 in the FIBA World Championships at Tokyo, Anthony sat at the postgame podium with Coach K and expressed humility and determination.
“He didn’t make any excuses”, Krzyzewski said.
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In the second half, it was only a matter of settling the final margin and seeing some highlight-reel USA moves, notably an alley oop slam dunk by DeMar DeRozan early in the fourth quarter.
