Olympic Men’s Basketball: Day 5 Recap

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France 76, Serbia 75
France defeated Serbia in men’s Olympic play on Wednesday, 76-75, to improve to 2-1 in the tournament.

San Antonio Spurs legend Tony Parker hit a buzzer-beating jumper to win the thriller.

Here’s how all the NBA talent fared in this contest:

NBA Watch

France

Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs): 6 points including the game-winning shot

Nicolas Batum (Charlotte Hornets): 11 points, 3 assists

Joffrey Lauvergne (Denver Nuggets): 12 points (6-11 FG)

Rudy Gobert (Utah Jazz): 3 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks

Serbia

Bogdan Bogdanovic (Sacramento Kings): 10 points (3-4 3PT), 4 rebounds

Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets): 2 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists

 

USA 98, Australia 88

Many expected the United States to be tested for the first time in the Olympics against Australia, but very few people thought that the game would be this close.

Australia held a lead for most of the first three quarters as the United States, aside from New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, looked disengaged and aloof. Perhaps USA underestimated Australia and took them lightly, but the Boomers made them pay and kept this one interesting until the final minutes.

It took huge fourth quarters from Anthony and Kyrie Irving to fend off the fiesty Aussies, who gave USA all they had. It will be interesting to see how these Group A foes progress as the tournament rolls along, with USA improving to 3-0 and Australia earning their first loss.

The United States earned their 20th consecutive win in Olympic play and Carmelo Anthony took the all-time scoring lead in US Olympic basketball history. Here’s how the NBA talent fared on Wednesday evening:

USA

Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks): Game-high 31 points (9-15 3PT), 8 rebounds

Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers): 19 points, 5 assists

Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors): 14 points, 5 rebounds

Australia

Patty Mills (San Antonio Spurs): 30 points (5-11 3PT)

Andrew Bogut (Dallas Mavericks): 15 points (7-9 FG)

Matthew Dellevedova (Milwaukee Bucks): 11 points, game-high 11 assists

 

Venezuela 72, China 68

Venezuela rebounded from a blowout loss to the United States to win a close game against China, 72-68.

Nestor Colmenares led the way for Venezuela, scoring a team-high 16 points off the bench. Yi Jianlian had 18 points for China, who fell to 0-3 in the Olympics. They have also given up an Olympics-worst 279 points in three games.

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Melo Makes More History, Carries USA To Victory