United States Breezes by Australia
When the United States Olympic team defeated the Australian team 87-76 on August 5th of this year, there were some major concerns about the readiness of the team. Despite their victory, the United States went long stretches of time playing sloppy basketball, and they struggled to defeat a team that was without their best play, Andrew Bogut. After the first quarter of their 116-85 victory over this same Australian team, it looked as if there would be a repeat performance.
Early in the first quarter, it appeared as if the United States was going to run away with the game. Led by Carmelo Anthony who scored 5 early points and Dwight Howard did the same, while drawing two early fouls on Bogut. The score at this point was 15-6, and it seemed like the U.S. had learned from the sloppy play in their earlier exhibition game against the Aussies.
Then Patrick Mills, the 5′11″ guard who plays at Saint Mary’s College in California, and who wreaked havoc on the U.S. in game one, entered the game, and quickly made his mark.
Not only did Mills hit a three-pointer upon entrance into the game, but he sped up the tempo of the game. Australia’s David Barlow and Chris Anstey began to get easier shots, and the United States began to revert back to their one-on-one style of play. They took quick shots from three-point range, the ball movement was non-existent, and they watched their nine point lead whittle down to just one.
On top of that, the U.S. continued their poor free throw shooting during these Olympic games by missing six three throws in the quarter.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski decided to shake his team a bit in the second quarter by using a smaller, quicker lineup to combat Australia’s size. Lebron James played center, Anthony was the power forward, Kobe Bryant was small forward, and Dwyane Wade and Deron Williams were the shooting and point guards respectively.
This lineup not only took the lead from 30-28 to 37-30, but they changed the pace of the game completely. The U.S. got steals, they moved the ball, and most importantly they got easier baskets. By the time center Chris Bosh and eventually Howard re-entered the game, the United States had all the momentum, and a 52-43 lead.
Then came the back breaker.
Williams, who had missed three wide open three-pointers during the first half, took an outlet pass from Bosh and headed up the court. He took two dribbles and pulled up for his fourth three-pointer, despite the hand of 6′7″ Australian forward Mark Worthington, being directly in his face. Williams drained the three-pointer, and gave the United States a 55-43 lead going into halftime. Australia never got any closer than that.
To start the third quarter, the United States went on a 14-0 run to put the game out of reach, and they were led by Kobe Bryant who hit two three-pointers in that span. Australia eventually did score halfway through the quarter, but by that time the game was out of reach.
To make matters worse for the Australian team, Bogut reaggravated the ankle that kept him out of the first game, and he left for good at the 7:31 mark of the quarter. By the end of the third quarter, the United States lead had ballooned to 27 points, and the fourth quarter resembled garbage time of an NBA game.
The final score was 116-85 in favor of the United States.
Bryant led the team with 25 points, James had another stellar all around performance with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals, while Anthony contributed 15 points.
Australia was led by electric point guard Mills who scored 20 points. Bogut was held to only four points and two rebounds.
The United States now advance to the semifinal round on Friday, to play the team that ended their run of Olympic gold medals: Argentina. They are led by Manu Ginóbili (San Antonio Spurs), Luis Scola (Houston Rockets) and Andres Nocioni (Chicago Bulls). When these two teams face in the semifinal round of the 2004 Olympics, Argentina came out on top 87-81.
If this U.S. team wants to keep calling themselves the “Redeem Team”, this is a must-win as the gold medal game awaits them if they do.
This article was written by:
Rashad Mobley - who has written 68 posts on Hoops Addict.
Rashad Mobley graduated with a B.S. in English Education, from Hampton University in Hampton, VA in 1996. He is a government consultant for the Department of Justice in Washington D.C., where he currently resides. Rashad is will be covering the Washington Wizards for HoopsAddict.com during the upcoming NBA season.
Comments
By Ryan McNeill on August 21st, 2008 at 9:42 am
I have to admit that after the first quarter I thought the Americans were in for a whole world of trouble. If the Aussies had hit some of those runners in the paint and not shot as many three-pointers they could have even had the lead.
I think what turned the tide was the final minute of the second quarter where Australia had the chance to cut the deficit to less than four points but instead when into the half facing a double-digit deficit. If the Aussies hadn’t let the American rally and gather confidence heading into the half it might have been a closer game.