US are the most dominant in the game that was invented by a Canadian-American, and even without the likes of LeBron James and Stephen Curry, they are the team to beat.
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San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills led Australia with 30 points.
The loss would have been the Americans’ first in an Olympic Games since they were beaten by Argentina in 2004.
Carmelo Anthony may never win the National Basketball Association championship that eludes him, but at least he has two Olympic gold medals so far.
“We’re a bit disappointed”. A very physical team with Andrew Bogut and Aron Baynes in the paint, they managed to do quite well against the attempts to post up DeMarcus Cousins, which usually works a lot smoother. That’s the first real, real worldwide we’ve had. That’s an attitude change.
“We lost. We’re not going to take small moral victories”.
“I don’t think we played our best game, but we pulled it out”, Anthony told reporters, deflecting any credit for the win.
“We knew we were going to get their best”, George said.
This morning, Australian time, the Boomers almost became the first team to knock off the world No.1 side at a Games since 2004.
It could’ve actually been worse for Team USA, which needed every one of Anthony’s 17 first-half points with the rest of the team struggling to hit open shots.
“It’s pretty obvious why it’s good for us”, said coach Mike Krzyzewski, who screamed at an official after Bogut’s hard foul on Irving in the third quarter.
Bogut had 15 points for Australia and Matthew Dellavedova had 11 points and 11 assists. So we weren’t surprised to see Irving take over the game against Australia Wednesday night to preserve the 71st consecutive global win for a Mike Krzyzewski-coached team. It was tied with Venezuela after the first quarter of what seemed like an easy game, barely escaped Australia, and survived a scare against Serbia 94-91. In a game where Team USA identified Mills as their greatest offensive threat, he still played well.
As for their swanky accommodations, “The cruise ship is awesome”, said Irving. “.But a fun game, that’s what you play for”.
“We just had to match their physicality”, said George.
“For us I thought it was a heck of a win because we beat a really good team, an outstanding team that was playing really well”.
Canada’s win also clinched a spot in the quarterfinals for the USA, and the teams will play Friday.
In a battle of winless teams, Venezuela outlasted China for a 72-68 win, dealing a potentially fatal blow to China’s hopes of advancing.
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David Andersen, Australia’s captain who plays in Europe, was a second effective big man, showing great shooting touch scoring 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 1-of-1 from beyond the arc.
