Olympic Men’s Basketball Recap: U.S.A d. Australia

Carmelo Anthony rains napalm from outside and the U.S. avoid a scare.

by

Final Score U.S.A beats Australia 98-89 | Box Score

 

Day five of the mens Olympic basketball preliminaries, saw two undefeated teams go head to head, with each team looking to stay atop the rankings in Group-A. While Australia is a very good team, they are obviously the underdogs here facing the USA’s Dream Team. Team Australia is coming off a 15 point win against Serbia, while the US routed Venezuela by 44 points two days ago, on the strength of a great performance from the Indiana Pacers Paul George’s 20 points. Australia would have to try and limit the US from grabbing too many offensive rebounds, as they are averaging 16.5 a game as a team. The US got off to a slow start  in the last game against Venezuela, as they were tied at 18 after one. Australia is a much stronger team than Venezuela, it was important for the US to not fall behind early in this one.

In the first quarter, baskets came quickly from both sides. It was Carmelo Anthony who got the US off to hot start, scoring their first nine points all on threes. But Melo’s efforts alone, weren’t enough to pull away from Australia. The tough Australian defense, primarily from Andrew Bogut, wouldn’t allow the US any easy baskets inside. While Patty Mills and Bogut, would be efficient on offense to lead Australia for most of the first quarter. In the final two minutes, it was the Raptors own Kyle Lowry orchestrating the offense, while Anthony got hot again from outside to pull back to a tie game after the first at 29 a piece.

The second quarter would be a back and fourth game. The US typically has started slow, and then pulled away for their huge quarters in the second, but this wasn’t the case here, as Australia would pull away with the lead half way through the second. It was the Australian defense, forcing turnovers, getting open threes in transition, and shooting an uber efficient 68FG% at the half, while the US would only shoot 37FG%, which would put Australia on top 54-49 in good position to win this game. At the half Anthony would lead the way for the United States, with 17 at the half on 6/11 shooting. On the other end, it was San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills who would have 17 on 5/7 shooting from the field. The lead for Australia would be incredibly impressive, this would be the first time the Dream Team trailed at the half since the 2004 Olympics.

The US would come out quickly in the third, going on a quick 9-0 run to regain the lead. The hot start wasn’t enough for the US to pull away with a huge lead. Australia would settle down the US’s early lead, as their tough defense against the United States’ second lineup would pull their deficit to only three points going into the fourth.

For everyone who thought the Olympic mens basketball competition was going to be a pretty typical bulldozing by the United States, this one was pretty close throughout. It was kind of fun watching the US play under pressure, and see them work more as a team. While Australia would get good looks from almost everywhere in the fourth, they just couldn’t seem to keep up with the hot hand of Anthony, who would continue to knock down threes seamlessly down the stretch, and who would finish the game with 9 threes, and 31 points. For Australia, it was Mills who would lead the way for his team, finishing with 30 points. The US would survive this potential upset, expect to see this game played again in the medal rounds.

 

Raptors Report –

DeRozan wouldn’t see much floor time in this one, as he would only play a total of 3 minutes. He wouldn’t take a shot, finishing with one steal, and some shaky defense. Lowry was really impressive in the first half, and it was surprising that they US didn’t turn to him more in the second half, and decided to play Cavs guard Kyrie Irving instead. Lowry would play some great defense, and was great running the offense. He would finish with 7 points, 2 rebounds, and 4 assists.

 

Follow @Spenred

Follow @RaptorsRepublic

Previous: Olympic Women’s Basketball Recap: Canada d. Senegal
Next: Raptors sign Drew Crawford and Yanick Moreira