By Dan Ferrara, NBA International
So far for the United States, the Olympics have felt less like a competitive tournament and more like a celebration tour. They may face their first test of the week on Wednesday when they take on undefeated Australia, who has looked impressive in its own right. With Spain falling to 0-2 and looking a bit underwhelming, Australia may be the USA’s biggest adversaries for the gold, though there is so much time remaining.
Here’s everything you need to know heading into Wednesday’s showdown of the two unbeatens from Group A.
101
The United States have outscored their opponents by a combined 101 points in two games, an incredible margin that speaks to their true world dominance. Though it’s been said that the rest of the world is catching up to the United States on the hardwood, that hasn’t been the case thus far in Rio. Their two opponents, China and Venezuela, looked completely overmatched – let’s see if Australia can hang with USA for four quarters and keep this one competitive.
23.5
Raise your hand if you had Australia’s Patty Mills leading the Olympics in scoring … nope, didn’t think so.
The reserve guard for the San Antonio Spurs has been fantastic through two games for Australia, averaging an Olympics-best 23.5 points per game on nearly 47% shooting. He’s been letting them fly from downtown, averaging nine 3-pointers per game in the tournament, so the United States is going to have to keep tabs on him behind the arc.
Mills hasn’t seen versatile wing defenders like Jimmy Butler and Paul George thus far in the Olympics, so he better be ready to move without the ball and create his own shot – if he thinks he’ll be able to stand behind the 3-point line uncontested, he’s going to have a long day.
16
The center position is usually devalued in international competition because mostly every big man can shoot from outside and there’s less interior play. That won’t be the case on Wednesday when Andrew Bogut and DeAndre Jordan meet in the paint, however.
Each center has a total of 16 rebounds through two games, which ties them for third behind Nigeria’s Ike Diogu and Spain’s Pau Gasol. Neither of them are much of an offensive threat besides Jordan’s alley-oops and Bogut’s putback’s, so this should be an old-fashioned battle on the boards.
64.3, 11.5
Boomers point guard Matthew Dellavedova has been on fire this Olympics, shooting 64.3% from the field and averaging 13.5 points per game thus far. He’s also leading the Olympics in assists, dishing out 11.5 per game through Australia’s first two contests.
He’ll now face his biggest test to date in former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Kyrie Irving. The two just won an NBA championship together, and after Dellavedova’s free agency move to the Milwaukee Bucks, this could be a very interesting matchup.
There’s certainly no love lost between the two, but it will be fascinating to watch how they play against one another after years of practicing against the other – they’ll likely be able to anticipate what the other will do on both ends of the floor.
Delly has actually statistically outperformed Irving thus far, which is surprising since he backed him up in Cleveland. Perhaps this is Dellavedova’s coming out party, as he’s a focal point in an offense for the first time in a long time. Irving’s greatness has just been overshadowed thus far on Team USA’s deep roster, but he may be a little extra motivated Wednesday afternoon against a familiar face.
