Rio Olympics: Carmelo Anthony becomes all-time leading scorer for Team USA
No one has gotten more Olympic buckets than Melo
By
Matt Moore
•
1 min read
Carmelo Anthony became the all-time leading scorer in Team USA history on Wednesday, scoring 31 points to pass LeBron James in the United States' 98-88 victory over Australia. Anthony began the game third behind James and David Robinson with 262 points in Olympic play, finishing with 293 in just his third game in Rio. His final tally will be tough for any player to surpass in the future, despite much of it being on account of the high number of games he's played with the squad.
Team USA needed all 31 of those points to beat Australia, too. The Boomers brought physicality, sharp passing, and smart play to challenge Team USA and led by eight in the second quarter before a stifling third quarter defensive performance combined with Anthony and Kyrie Irving's scoring binge managed to avoid disaster for the squad that hasn't lost in international play in ten years.
Anthony shot 9-of-15 from 3-point range vs. Australia, accounting for over 50 percent of their made 3-pointers as they outscored the Boomers by 30 points from deep. Anthony scored 14 points in the first quarter to take the all-time lead.
Team USA faces Serbia Friday at 6 p.m. ET.
