Melo Leads USA Past Britain
7/20/2012 9:15:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MANCHESTER, England -- Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks) and Deron Williams (Brooklyn Nets) each had 19 points to lead the USA Basketball Men's National Team (3-0) past Great Britain in a pre-Olympics exhibition game, 118-78.
The exhibition win came in front of a sold-out crowd of 16,979 on Thursday night at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Anthony's 19 points included 10 in the first quarter. He added four assists. Williams finished with 19 points and five assists, including 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point.
"What a great atmosphere," said USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski . "Thank you people of Great Britain for providing such a great crowd. We felt very welcome in this amazing environment.
"I thought the Great Britain team played really well. Luol (Deng) is one of the better players in the world. I like their toughness. We're much quicker than they are and it produced a lot of turnovers, and we were very unselfish tonight."
LeBron James (Miami Heat) added 16 points and four assists, Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder) scored 15 points and dished out a game-high nine dimes and Chris Paul (Los Angeles Clipper) grabbed three steals and added six assists to help the USA record 39 assists on its 47 made baskets. The Americans turned the ball over just nine times while collecting 16 steals and forcing Great Britain to cough up 26 turnovers.
"I thought it was a great game from us," Williams said. "We're just really using this time, these warm-up games just to find a rhythm, to find a chemistry. We've only been together for a short amount of time, so all these practices, these games, these warm-up games are going to do a lot to build up chemistry and build character. We're really learning a lot about who we are and finding our roles. It was a good win tonight against a tough Great Britain team."
Eight first-quarter points from Britain's Pops Mensah-Bonsu helped his team nearly keep pace with the USA, which made just two of its nine field goal attempts in the game's first 3:48, and with two free throws at 1:37, GB pulled within three points, 23-20. The momentum shifted, however, as a dunk from Anthony ignited the USA. After an alley-oop from Paul to Westbrook, Anthony nailed consecutive 3-pointers to put the USA up 33-20 after the first stanza.
The 14-0 U.S. run stretched into the second period, and the USA was up by 17 points, 37-20, when Great Britain called a timeout 8:24. Over the next two minutes, however, NBA Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng single-handedly pulled Great Britain within nine, 39-30, with 10 points on his own.
After a few scores from each team, the USA led 43-33 before it was off and running, this time on an 8-0 spurt to take a 53-31 lead at 1:45 when Durant sank two free throws. Deng halted the spree with a 3-pointer at 7:27, and at halftime the USA had a 55-37 advantage.
Williams opened the second half on fire, and after a leaning drive at 9:48, he sank three consecutive 3-pointers and then added one more less than a minute later, after a score from James , and within a span of four minutes the U.S. lead had ballooned to 28 points. Seven points from Anthony and six from James over the period's last 5:37 helped the red, white and blue outscore GB by 16 points in the third, and the scoreboard read 89-55 headed into the final 10 minutes.
"The chemistry is getting better and better with each game and each practice," James said. "We are taking full advantage of every opportunity we get together. So, you know, it's looking good right now."
The highlight reel continued in the fourth quarter, including three of Anthony Davis' (New Orleans Hornets) four blocks and three alley-oop passes from Westbrook - one of which was slammed home on a reverse dunk by Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves) that brought the crowd and the U.S. bench to their feet. Great Britain made five 3-pointers down the stretch to help prevent the contest from getting totally out of control, but when the buzzer sounded the USA had its largest win of the 2012 tour, a 118-78 blowout.
