Melo Tallies 28, Team USA Begins Medal Round Play By Beating Mexico, 127-100
8/28/2007 7:19:47 AM | Men's Basketball
USA Basketball
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Aug. 27, 2007) -- USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski may have mixed up the starting lineup and the substitution pattern, but the end result was the same as the USA Men’s Senior National Team (4-0) needed just the first 10 minutes to establish a 22-point lead and went on to easily down Mexico (1-3) 127-100 Monday evening the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev. The USA continues second-round action of the FIBA Americas Championship 2007 against Puerto Rico (1-3) Tuesday at 11:00 p.m. (EST).
"To (Mexico’s) credit, they never gave up. They just played every second of the game. For us, we need to move on. We’ve played great in this tournament. We can play better than we played tonight. But, when we win by 30, I’m not going to complain. That’s a good thing," Krzyzewski said.
"We could have gone zone early," Krzyzewski continued. "We could have done some trapping. One of the things about playing game after game like this, in kind of a crazy format, is that you don’t practice. So, sometimes you let things go in a game like this that you would not let go in a close game, so that you would keep going on it. So, that is how we have tried to do it."
In his first start, Chauncey Billups (Detroit Pistons) scored the first five points for the Americans, but it was Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets) who owned the game’s opening stanza. Anthony tallied 16 of his game-high 28 points in the first quarter, making 6-of-7 attempts from the field, including two 3-pointers, to help the U.S. led reach 22, 45-23, at the first break.
Adding five rebounds and three assists to his 28 points, Anthony tied the USA Olympic qualifier single-game scoring record set by Allen Iverson in 2003 and is on pace, averaging 22.6 ppg., to challenge the points averaged record of 16.3 ppg. held by Charles Barkley (1992).
The USA’s red-hot shooting percentage, 16-of-20 from the field in the first quarter, cooled off to 36.8 percent
(7-19 FGs) in the second period as Mexico’s Victor Mariscal heated up. Mariscal knocked down three open looks from deep and scored all 11 of his first-half points to help Mexico outscore the USA 28-20 in the second quarter, cutting the USA advantage to 65-51 at halftime.
"Every night is different, every night presents different challenges," said Michael Redd (Milwaukee Bucks). "We have to be ready for any type of challenge and any style of play. We are so deep so it’s a matter of us staying together and having fun."
Amare’ Stoudemire (Phoenix Suns), who also recorded his first start versus Mexico, opened a second-half, 15-6 U.S. run by scoring three points the old fashioned way, converting on the free-throw he earned during an emphatic, put-back jam at 9:27. LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers) followed with back-to-back 3-pointers, Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) then tallied four consecutive points and Billups hit two free throws, and the U.S. lead stretched to 80-57 at 6:54. James went on to score 16 of his 19 points in the third to help the USA improve its advantage to 101-78 headed into the fourth quarter.
The USA outscored Mexico 26-22 in the fourth, and the scoreboard read 127-100 at the game’s end.
Bryant scored 21 points and passed off for three assists; Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic) tallied 19 points; Stoudemire contributed 12 points; and Redd tallied 15 points. In addition, James added five rebounds and five assists to his 19 points, Jason Kidd (New Jersey Nets) dished seven assists and Deron Williams (Utah Jazz) recorded four.
The USA improved to 31-0 all time in FIBA Americas Championship play, but allowed Mexico to become the first team to score 100 points against the USA in this event.
"It’s all about us trying to challenge ourselves to go out there and play hard every night," James said. "We know we’re capable of beating any team. But there could be one night where we beat ourselves, and we don’t want that to happen. It’s about challenging ourselves."
In today’s other action, Canada (2-2) topped Uruguay (2-2) 95-88; Argentina (4-0) handled Venezuela (0-4)
98-63; and Puerto Rico (1-3)downed Brazil (2-2) 97-75.
Following tomorrow’s game against Puerto Rico, the USA is set to face Uruguay on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. and Argentina Thursday at 9:00 p.m. All times listed are local, Pacific Daylight Time.
