Team USA Heads into Quarterfinals 5-0
When you have a team full of NBA All-Stars, any player can carry the team any night.
Heading into Halftime with just a 60-59 lead over Argentina, Team USA relied on on Lebron James and Kevin Durant to help the team go on a 42-17 run in the third quarter to put Team USA up 102-76 with just a quarter to play. James scored Team USA’s first seven points of the third quarter and then Durant took over the rest of the quarter with 17 points, making five of his six three pointers.
“We’re a great shooting team, but in close games sometimes you’ve got to go down and get some easy ones, and I wanted the ball, whether it was layups or in the post,” James said. “Once you get a couple easy ones at the rim then the 3-pointers open up and you saw what KD was able to do.”
There was some controversy at the end of the third quarter though as Argentina’s Facundo Campazzo gave Carmelo Anthony a cheap shot, following an Anthony three-pointer to end the quarter. As he was landing, Campazzo ran by Anthony and punched him in the groin with the end result being an exchange of words by both teams and a pair of technical fouls.
The Americans never looked back in the final quarter, easily defeating Argentina 126-97. Durant finished hitting eight of his ten three pointers while Team USA made 20 three-pointers as a team, their second most since they set the record four days ago with 29 against Nigeria.
Six players on Team USA had double figures. Durant ended up with a team-high 28 points, James had 18 points, Chris Paul had 17 points, Andre Iguodala and Kevin Love each had 13 points and nine rebounds and Kobe Bryant had 11 points.
Team USA shot 51.1-percent on field goals and 51.3-percent on three-pointers while Argentina shot 50.8-percent on field goals and 38.5-percent on three-pointers. Team USA also won rebounds 46-28, assists 29-22, steals 11-2 and turnovers 8-16.
The win marked the end of the regular season play for Team USA who finished with 5-0 record. They’ll get a tough first game in the Quarterfinals against Austrailia on Wednesday August 8 at 5:15 p.m. ET.
Austrailia finished regular season play with a 3-2 record, but is coming off an 82-80 upset victory over Group B champion Russia. Pat Mills hit a three-pointer as time expired to hand the Russians their first loss.
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