The Olympics are underway for real in basketball.
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Irving’s shot-making was vital to Team USA’s late-game surge, but his failure to navigate screens put the U.S.at a major disadvantage.
RIO DE JANEIRO The United States survived a scare before taming scrappy Australia 98-88 in an Olympic men’s basketball thriller on Wednesday and extended their winning streak to 20 games.
With 1:35 left in the game, the Australians were trailing by only 4 points until Kyrie Irving hit a clutch three to seal the deal for Team USA.
The US players and coaches had made a big deal about their defense after their two earlier games, boasting about the work that Minnesota Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau – an American assistant coach – had put in with them in the weeks before the Olympics.
The Australians stunned the heavy gold medal favourites and were leading the United States in the last quarter of a pulsating game on Wednesday night, unsettling the usually unflappable megastars of America.
Anthony saved his team in a 98-88 victory over Australia and its “Boomers” lineup of National Basketball Association players Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova and Andrew Bogut by scoring 31 points, including nine three-pointers.
Although James and some other National Basketball Association stars passed on a chance to play in Brazil, Anthony signed up again and is making the most of what will undoubtedly be his final games.
It took a heroic fourth-quarter effort from Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving to put the US over the top.
Australian guards Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova were the scoring stars against Serbia, combining for a game total of 49 points.
After five easy exhibitions preceding routs of China and Venezuela to open the tournament, the Americans trailed 72-70 with about 9 minutes left. Anthony would hit a two-pointer in the middle of the first quarter to tie James for a second, then hit the fourth three-pointer with 1:11 to go in the opening period, reaching 276 career points and bagging the record.
Hero: Anthony not only had a game-high 31 points but was diving on the floor for loose balls and leading by example.
Meanwhile, the men’s sevens rugby team have scraped into the quarter-finals after a dramatic end to pool play at Deodoro Stadium. Jordan asked, “Can you imagine how incredible Bogut’s Twitter account will be if Australia win this?” After complete destructions of China and Venezuela in the first two games of Group A play, it seemed the U.S. was poised to rumble through Rio with massive wins every night.
It’s just the second set Walsh Jennings has ever lost at the Summer Games.
Both teams will come out of this game feeling pretty good, the Americans for having handled their first bit of adversity well, and the Australians for having shown they have what it takes to vie for an Olympic medal. He took it upon himself to lead us and he’s been doing this for many years. Im not surprised the womens gold came down to the US and Australia on Wednesday as it did in London, and it was exciting to see three other nations vying for medal contention with the second swimmers in the pool.
The threat to the US basketball reign is real and it’s Australian.
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Andrew Bogut also had a big game for Team Australia with 15 points, putting on a strong performance in front of former teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
