Olympic Basketball News: Australia gives USA a tough fight

The U.S. men’s basketball team might have some hurdles on its way to the gold in Rio after all. The Americans had some trouble with Australia before coming away with a 98-88 victory in a surprisingly close contest Wednesday night. For the first time at the 2016 Olympics, the other team felt like it had a shot.

Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving helped Team USA prevail in the end, but not before some hints of vulnerability seeped to the surface. Anything less than a blowout feels out of character for the two-time defending gold medalists, and with less than two minutes in this game, Australia only trailed by four. While Irving hit a three after that to help pull away, the U.S. shouldn’t need late heroics to beat a team led by NBA reserves.

Australia deserves a lot of credit for its performance. This team, which is led by Patty Mills, Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova, has played really well in Rio. After double-digit wins over France and Serbia to open the Games, the Boomers nearly went out and handed the Americans their first Olympic loss in over a decade. Australia is a tough, cohesive unit, and that showed against the U.S., which is still working out the details with this roster.

Defense tends to be Team USA’s biggest strength, but Australia shot 50 percent from the field and drew the same number of free throws as the Americans. Mills had 30 points on 11-of-22 shooting and Dellavedova went for a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists. We’re indeed living in a world where a Mills-Dellavedova backcourt was racking up stats against a team loaded with NBA All-Stars.

With China and Venezuela falling behind in Group A, there’s a very good chance Australia will make it into the elimination stage. Once there, the Boomers will be in position to make a run toward their first ever Olympic medal in men’s basketball. Even if they can’t quite get past the USA, that would be a great feat in itself. After these early performances, it seems possible.

For the U.S., Anthony was spectacular and became the country’s all-time leading scorer in the Olympics. He’s passed LeBron James, David Robinson and Michael Jordan over the past few days to become No. 1, and it goes to show the kind of impact he’s had on the national team over the past dozen years.

Category: Basketball