It was confirmed at the USA, Nigeria press confrence that two Olympic records had been broken.
It wasn’t even half-way through the list as Team USA destroyed Nigeria 156-73 last night.
Carmelo Anthony broke the USA’s Olympic scoring record with 37 points, smashing Stephon Marbury’s 31 points set in 2004 at the Games in Athens. They broke the half-time and full-time points scored, the number of three-pointers attempted (46) and made (29) plus they equalled the assists number with 41.
Anthony, who broke the USA record for most three-pointers with 10 only needed 14 minutes to score his 37 points.
“It was just one them nights where as a unit we had it going on,” Anthony said. “It could have been anybody on the court playing against us but when we shoot like that, shoot that well the percentages that we shot out there tonight was just incredible.”
The New York Knicks superstar wasn’t to concerned with records, just wins. His team-mates are on the same wavelength.
“For us we just want to get better each and every game” USA forward LeBron James said. “We feel like we did that and no matter what our competition is we want to get better and we accomplished that.
“It’s an honour to be a part of such a great team, and to able to brake records and I’m happy to be part of it.”
No doubt, this was as ruthless a showing as you will ever see from a United States side, they shot more three-pointers than two pointers and everyone bar James and Tyson Chandler hit from deep.
“We just shot the ball better than any team in any game that I’ve ever coached,” Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski said afterwards.
“Our guys just couldn’t miss and they shared the ball and we had 41 assists and when you hit 29 threes, it’s very difficult to lose in a game like that.”
It was slightly overlooked that this win confirmed USA’s spot in the quarter-finals, as they improve to 3-0, but right now, the talk is all about the records broken and the clinic that not just Anthony put on, but the entire team as well. They forced Nigeria to turn the ball over 25 times but even after a performance like that, the Africans, who fell to 1-2 still have a quarter-final spot to aim for.
“We are still there, it was our approach going into the game,” Nigeria guard Tony Skinn stated. “Coach said to us that if the game got out of hand, he would rest the players he needed to rest to get ready for the next games and we still have hope in the camp by telling ourselves that it’s a marathon not a sprint.”