USA Coach Mike Krzyzewski said after Tuesday’s game he was not trying to send a message to his players. He said that he didn’t mass substitute in the second unit then start the bench guys in the second half of the win over Tunisia as a message to USA starters after a lackadaisical opening few minutes the other day. He had planned to do it anyway.
Right. Of course he planned out this wild break from pattern. Why would you even question that?
Either way, it worked.
Team USA came out firing and focused and set a bushel of records on their way to destroying Nigeria 156-73 on Thursday in London. And I’m not sure it was that close.
Is this enough of a rout to make you happy? And by you, I mean people like me who said the USA didn’t earn a lot of style points when they beat Tunisia because of the sloppy start. Thursday’s win was nothing but style points.
Lets talk records:
• The 156 points is the most any team has ever scored in a single game in the history of the Olympics. The old record had been 138. It goes without saying that is more than the Dream Team ever scored in a game, in case you feel like starting that silly debate again.
• Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points by himself, that is more points than any American ever in a single Olympic game, besting Stephon Marbury’s old record of 31. Part of the reason for this is that Nigeria just did not close out on ‘Melo at the three point line, they let him get good look after good look and he hit 10 of 12 from beyond the arc.
• This was the largest American margin of victory ever, at 83. The old record had been 68.
• The USA made 29 threes (on 46 shots), the old record had been 13 threes in a game. The 46 attempts is also a record.
• The USA shot 71.1 percent for the game, besting the old best ever of 68 percent by team USA.
That enough of a rout for you?
It was a slaughter from the opening tip — the USA started the game on a 13-0 run and put up 49 points in the first quarter on 82 percent shooting while hitting 11-of-14 threes. They just kept pouring it on from there, it was playground basketball. And the foot never comes off the gas because when Coach K empties the bench he still puts in All-Stars.
Nigeria helped this out by trying to play an up-tempo game as is their style — they rushed shots early in the clock. Thing is, they are bad shooters. Nigeria shot 41.2 percent on the night and was 6-of-27 from three. Which is actually better than the 29 percent they shot coming into the game. Nigeria also had 25 turnovers.
All of that fueled the USA running game. Which is what they do best.
Every American scored. After ‘Melo, the next three on the USA’s scoring list were Russell Westbrook with 21, Kobe Bryant with 16 (14 of those in the first quarter as he came out trying to establish the tone) and Kevin Love with 15.
Former NBA player Ike Diogu had 27 for Nigeria.
The USA is now 3-0 in group play. Next up for the Americans is Lithuania on Saturday. Lithuania is certainly a more talented team and a better test for the USA than Nigeria, but they are a slow-the-pace grinding team that will struggle to match the USA’s speed and athleticism.
But I promise it will be closer than this. The USA will not shoot 71 percent from the floor again.