from Williams. “Well, the support
system that we had, that I had with my teammates, you can’t explain that,” Anthony said. “The way that they tell me to shoot the ball, encouraging me to make shots, take shots, but then just to feel it every time, that touch,
it’s kind of hard to explain it. If you’ve never done it, you really wouldn’t understand what I’m talking about just in terms of shooting the ball and shooting it well.” The USA opened with a
13-0 run and had nearly set the record for team 3-point- ers made in the first 10 minutes, shooting 11-of-14 from behind the arc in the first quarter – four of those came from Anthony, and three were by Durant. Nigeria tried to slow the
Kevin Durant poured in 30 points in the gold medal game victory over Spain. Named MVP at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, he again paced the USA offense, averging a U.S. record 19.5 points a game in the Olympics.
goals made and field goal percentage at 71.1 percent. “Well, obviously, we just shot better
than any team in a game that I have ever coached,” said Coach K. “Our guys just couldn’t miss tonight, and they shared the ball. We had 41 assists. When you hit 29 threes, it’s very difficult to lose in a game like that. “I thought Nigeria played us hard,
and as much as we were scoring, initially they were scoring, too. I think that they got worn out and we just had more players. (It was) just an incredible shooting performance that’s not going to happen very often.” The balanced attack, which led to a
U.S. Olympic record-tying 41 assists from the USA, including 11 dimes from Paul, also featured 21 points from Westbrook; 16 points from Bryant, who played in the first half only; 15 points from Love; 14 points from Durant; and 13 points on 3-of-3 3-point shooting
USA Basketball News
pace with timeouts at 7:16 and 2:06, but its efforts were in vain as the first-quarter buzzer sounded on the USA’s highest scoring quarter of the tournament, 49-25.
“What Carmelo did was
unbelievable. We passed the ball well, our guys were knocking down our shots, our point guards made sure we got open shots and we were able to knock them down. So, it was a fun game,” stated Durant. The USA cooled off slightly in the
second period, but not by much. The USA tied the U.S. Olympic team 3-point record with a long ball from Anthony at 1:56 and set a new high when Williams sank his first three of the game at 1:35 to put the USA up 78-41. Nigeria closed out the first half with
a score and a free throw, and the USA headed to the locker room with its highest scoring half, 78-45. The USA was disruptive on the
defensive end as well, causing 14 turnovers in the first half and collecting seven steals. Overall, the team caused 25 turnovers by Nigeria, which it converted into 42 points.
Along with Bryant, James rested the
entire second half after tallying six points and five assists in 11 minutes. Another 40-point quarter for the
USA followed in the third as the Americans outscored Nigeria 41-17, to lead 119-62 headed into the final stanza. From 7:06 to 5:01 in the third period, Anthony hit five straight 3-pointers before he headed to the bench for the remainder of the game at 4:48 with the USA leading 100-54. For all 40 minutes, the USA could
not miss, and all 12 players had scored by the time Iguodala sank consecutive threes at 7:49 and 7:13 to put the USA up 130-64. Nigeria never quit, but was over-
matched as the USA continued to stretch its lead all the way through the final buzzer on its way to a 156-73 win. The previous U.S. Olympic scoring
high had been 133 points set by the 1996 squad against China, and the previous all-time Olympic high was 138 points,
USA 156, Nigeria 73 Aug. 2, 2012
USA
Bryant Paul
MIN FG FT R A PF PTS 11 6- 8 2- 2 322 16 22 3- 5 0- 0 271 7
Chandler 14 1- 2 0- 0 501 2 Durant James Love
17 5- 9 0- 0 161 14 11 3- 5 0- 0 251 6 23 6- 9 0- 0 620 15
Harden 20 3- 8 0- 0 240 7 Davis
15 4- 4 1- 2 603 9
Anthony 14 13-16 1- 3 412 37 Westbrook 14 7- 8 4- 5 020 21 Williams 18 5- 6 1- 2 0 11 1 13 Iguodala 21 3- 3 0- 0 410 9 Totals 200 59-83 9- 14 38 41 12 156
NGR
Obasohan 20 2- 5 2- 2 422 8 Oyedeji Skinn Diogu
22 1- 7 0- 0 121 3 30 11-17 5- 6 703 27
Aminu 26 2- 8 3- 4 341 7 Archibong 14 0- 2 0- 0 120 0 Oruche 18 3- 7 0- 0 020 7 Ugboaja 16 4- 6 0- 0 210 8 Aminu 21 1- 3 0- 0 610 2 Ibekwe
4 0- 0 0- 0 102 0
Oguchi 20 4-11 1- 2 303 11 Totals 200 28-68 11-14 32 15 13 73
USA Nigeria
49 29 41 37 25 20 17 11
-- 156 -- 73
3PT FGs- USA (29-46): Anthony 10-12, Durant 4-7, Love 3-6, Westbrook 3-4, Iguodala 3-3, Williams 2-3, Bryant 2-2, Harden 1-5, Paul 1-3, James 0-1; Nigeria (6-27): Oguchi 2-7, Obasohan 2-5, Skinn 1-4, Oruche 1-4, Aminu 0-5, Diogu 0-2; TO-USA 7, Nigeria 25; BLKS- USA 1, Nigeria 1; STLS- USA 12, Nigeria 2.
25
MIN FG FT R A PF PTS 9 0- 2 0- 0 211 0
Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE/Getty Images
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