But it was far from a flawless first quarter for Team USA, which ended up tied with Australia at 29 only after recovering from a 25-17 deficit.
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A 15-3 Australia run in the second quarter, led by six points from captain David Andersen, put the United States team in a 46-39 hole.
However, the reality of this last game against Australia is that, even though Team USA did eventually get the win, this was the first time in the competition that they were truly tested.
Andersen, Australia’s elder statesman, reflected on those prior meetings by saying that the current squad brought “a bit more sense of belief” onto the floor for this shot at Team USA.
While the Australians have their share of classy multi-millionaires, their blue collar scrap and physicality shook the USA as they ran with and bustled the Americans all night, leading 54-49 at halftime. “I can look back on it when my career is over – if I don’t have an National Basketball Association championship ring – and say I had a great career”.
“It got real”, USA guard Paul George said. “We knew we could play with anyone coming in”.
The USA fought through foul trouble and didn’t crumble against Australia’s disciplined and creative offensive sets.
Anthony is now the only player in Team USA history to score at least 30 points in two different Olympic games. Australia managed to reclaim the lead and were ahead in the fourth quarter before Anthony connected on two three-pointers in the space of 26 seconds, the second which gave the U.S. a 78-74 lead. Anthony was brilliant with 14 points in the fourth quarter. Not only did Anthony make 9-of-15 3-pointers, he held his own down low, grabbing eight rebounds.
“This was a very good night for us”.
Regardless of the answers, Team USA is in good shape.
Having steamrolled their two previous opponents, the United States of America hasn’t had to really lock in yet and the furious pressure the Boomers played at caught them off guard a little.
“The best thing is, we won”. We will need to. You want to play in a close game and execute down the stretch, get stops down the stretch.
Another win: Katie Ledecky led the U.S.to a gold medal in the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay, her third gold medal of the Rio Olympics. In 2012, Lithuania had an 84-82 lead before losing 99-94. Anthony also admitted that he was not anxious about Matthew Dellavedova being in the Australian team.
The Boomers next play China, while the US face Serbia. Maybe it will be Spain, Argentina, Brazil or Lithuania in the knockout round.
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The Americans improved to 3-0 at Rio and 19-0 all-time against the Australians, but the full-game challenge posed by the Aussies could be the greatest game ever produced by the “Boomers”. “This was a big step for us, building our character and our identity”.
