2016 Olympic Games: Australia Keeps Rolling
Day 3 action of the Men’s Basketball competition in the 2016 Olympic Games did not disappoint. Australia and the USA snagged wins yet again and remain undefeated in early on. China took another furious beating, allowing France to get on the board and put up a notch in the win column. We still have a week of group stage action still to come and it is too early to judge how the final standings will shape up, but it’s always better to get those wins and avoid do-or-die situations in the future.
Serbia vs. Australia, 80-95
Australia downed their second European opponent in the competition. They crushed France 87-66 in Day 1 and now the Aussie Boomers took care of Serbia in what was initially a close game. Both teams played hard in what was a well contested game through the first three quarters. Australia was able to mount a big rally in the fourth quarter and blow-up with a big lead.
Credit has to go to their great backcourt duo of Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavadova. They not only ran rings around their counterparts, but their solid defense also limited Milos Teodosic to 5-of-14 shooting from the field. Mills led all scorers with 26 points and Dellavadova put up an impressive double-double with 23 points and 13 assists. Miroslav Raduljica was the top scorer for Serbia, putting up 25 points of his own.
The loss drops Serbia to 1-1 and they should be in for a stiff challenge as they face France (1-1) next.
USA vs. Venezuela, 113-69
USA Basketball shook off a sluggish first quarter and kicked up their game into high gear with a 13-2 run spearheaded by Carmelo Anthony in the second period. From there, it was “business as usual” as the tournament favorites got back into their gold-medal form. Their wake-up call came just in time. Q1 ended with the teams tied up at 18-18, but a 30-8 Q2 busted the game wide open for the US squad and they simply ran away with it from there.
Gregory Echenique matched-up well against DeMarcus Cousins well in the first quarter and the Americans were initially at a loss to deal with the conundrum he posed in the paint. Gregory ended the game with 18 points and seven rebounds. Kevin Durant, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony were able to put up some scoring pressure and the lanes opened up. Anthony’s 14 points passed Michael Jordan to slide into third place in the all-time USA scoring list.
So far, so good, for the defending gold medalists. No team has posed a serious threat to them and their laser focus on defense has paid off dividends in spades thus far.
France vs. China, 88-60
Carioca Arena 1 was where France managed to grab their first win of the competition. Nando de Colo and Tony Parker led France to victory in this one. France began with a slight 19-14 advantage at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was key for the Frenchmen as they pummeled China 23-9. After the halftime break it was smooth sailing for France and the Chinese contingent could not muster enough momentum to contest the lead.
Jianlian Yi was the best performer for China who produced 19 points and pulled down six rebounds. Tony Parker posted 14 points and handed out eight assists for the night.
China is now 0-2 and will need to put up some impressive performances moving forward to dig themselves out of this hole.