BACK IN RHYTHM
Before Wednesday’s quarterfinals against an experienced — OK, old — Argentina team, there was enough concern to last through the next summer Olympics for Team USA. The Americans barely had beaten France and Serbia, and had fits against Australia in the men’s basketball event. Too many 3-pointers. Too much isolation. Too little defense. Heck, let’s watch beach volleyball. But the players seemed confident. Of course, players must seem confident.
“I’m not concerned, we’re not concerned with things we could do a little bit better,” Knicks star Carmelo Anthony said before the game. “But we’re OK. We’re fine.”
Then came a horrible start against Argentina. Team USA was down 10 before six minutes elapsed. But the Americans figured it out, cruising to a 23rd straight Olympic victory, 105-78, Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro.
“We came out tonight and executed the game plan. The only thing we really changed was our passion and our energy to the game,” said Kevin Durant, who did more executing than anyone, scoring a game-high 27 points. “Everybody was locked in from the bench to the coaches to the guys on the floor. We were all one unit.”
As Anthony told reporters, “We wanted to come out and our whole thing was dominating.” Which they did. But it took a few minutes. “They took their best punch early. Once we figured that out, we settled down [and] we were good,” said Anthony. Actually, real good. Team USA revved up the defense, moved the ball while attacking as a unit and with some secondunit fire, unloaded a frightening 27-2 run, including 20 straight points, to seize control early in the second quarter. Aiding Durant was a massive U.S. edge in bench scoring. Suddenly, the fretting stopped.
“I wouldn’t say it was a relief,” Durant said. “We have more to go and we felt we always had another level to go to, especially after the last three games of pool play. We tried to take it personal coming into tonight’s game.”
The depth and size of the Americans proved decisive. With only Durant supplying early offense but with virtually no one supplying defense, coach Mike Krzyzewski inserted the likes of Chicago’s Jimmy Butler (seven points) and Indiana’s Paul George (17 points, nine rebounds), both of whom were huge. And the Americans got a nice lift from Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins (15 points), who had been replaced in the starting lineup by the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan. Anthony was in early foul trouble and scored seven points, shooting 3-of-10. No worries. The U.S. subs outscored Argentina’s bench, 54-16.
“We got our swagger back both offensively and defensively,” George said.
Everyone pitched in against Argentina, the last team — in 2004 — to beat the U.S. in the Olympics. But most of all, it was Durant. He shot 9-of-13, including 7-of-9 on 3s and added seven rebounds and six assists.
Team USA now advances to face Spain in the semifinals Friday. Spain routed France, 92-67, behind 23 points from the Bulls’ Nikola Mirotic and 18 points from incoming 22-year-old Knicks rookie center Willy Hernangomez (signed to a four-year, $5.86 million deal in July) and 10 from perennial NBA All-Star Pau Gasol. Ricky Rubio and Juan Carlos Navarro chipped in five assists each to dump France and Tony Parker (14 points).
“There’s a lot of movement,” Durant said of Spain. “Pau Gasol is a load down there in the post. They’ve got great guards that can penetrate, shoot and pass so we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
Behind 5-foot-10 point guard Facundo Campazzo (13 points) and Spurs legend Manu Ginobili (14 points), Argentina was up 19-9 after Andres Nocioni (12 points) bagged a 3-pointer at 4:02 of the first quarter. Then the U.S. comeback arrived, starting at 3:48.
With only new Net Luis Scola (15 foul-plagued points) scoring for Argentina, the U.S. used a 16-2 run to end the first quarter then forged an 11-0 spurt to start the second. By halftime, it was 56-40. An Argentine comeback? Nope. In the first 90 seconds of the second half, Team USA employed an 11-5 run, featuring two 3s by Durant and another by Anthony and the lead was 67-45. By the start of the fourth, the U.S. led, 87-61.