The two top teams of Pool A faced off Wednesday with Australia taking on Team USA. Team USA had to play their first real game of the tournament, winning 98-88 in the best game of Olympic basketball of the tournament.
Australia took on Team USA in Pool A of the Olympic basketball tournament in Rio, most likely to decide who wins the pool.
In my last article I said that Australia would provide Team USA with their toughest competition in pool play, but I did not think that Australia would push the U.S. until the final minutes.
Patrick Mills was the star again for Australia scoring 30 points in a great display of shooting, going 11-of-22 from the field, 5-of-11 from beyond the arc. In a game where Team USA identified Mills as their greatest offensive threat, he still played well.
He was helped by some great passing by Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova, giving Mills good open looks.
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Bogut was again a monster on defense. proving tough to get a shot past, he had three blocks but altered many shots. On the other end, Bogut showed why he was Australia’s first No 1 draft pick ever as the center was an extremely good two way player.
Bogut scored 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting but it was telling that he only collected one rebound.
Matthew Dellavedova must be making the Milwaukee Bucks coaching staff take notice of his starting ability as he had an amazing all-around game, scoring 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting as well as collecting 11 assists and six rebounds
David Andersen, Australia’s captain who plays in Europe, was a second effective big man, showing great shooting touch scoring 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 1-of-1 from beyond the arc. He also collected five rebounds.
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Aron Baynes had his worst offensive performance of the Olympics, not scoring and going 0-of-5. His defense was outstanding, taking on DeMarcus Cousins and Andre Drummond and holding his own, which is all we can ask.
Cameron Bairstow played his best game of the tournament, scoring six points on 2-of-4 shooting and collected five valuable rebounds, showing some of the play that had him on the Chicago Bulls roster for two years.
It took Team USA almost 36 minutes to get a decent lead against Australia. While they won by 10 points, with less then a minute to go the U.S. only led by five.
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Carmelo Anthony was nothing short of spectacular, going 9-of-15 from beyond the arc and scoring a game high 31 points to go along with eight rebounds.
Kyrie Irving, who Australians like to claim as their own as he was born in Melbourne, was the second-best player for the U.S. with 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including a dagger from three down the stretch, similar to Game 7 against the Golden State Warriors.
Despite scoring 14 points, Kevin Durant almost cost Team USA a win, going 4-of-16 from the field. Durant needs to realize that he has superstar teammates around him and if his shot is off then he needs to defer the shooting to them.
Australia needed to take better care of the ball, committing 16 turnovers compared to Team USA’s nine, meaning that USA were able to score 23 points from turnovers compared to Australia’s nine points.
The Australian’s won the battle inside the paint 44-22 but Team USA had 23-4 second chance points due to their 21-8 offensive rebound differential.
If Australia is going to compete against Team USA again, it will probably only in the Gold medal game and if so, they will need to defend the way they did tonight, keeping Team USA to 35 percent from the field. Australia shot the ball well, going at 58 percent.
It is telling that USA scored less than 100 points for the first time in the tournament, showing that Australia’s defense was the best that USA have faced in the tournament.
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Next up, Team USA takes on Serbia, who lost by one point to France Wednesday and desperately needs a second win. Australia next takes on an underwhelming China, which can only hope that Australia has a letdown from their top effort against the world’s best.