[caption id="attachment_76100" align="alignleft" width="239"]
Carmelo Anthony of the US shoots over Australia's David Andersen during their basketball game at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro Wednesday. — AP[/caption]RIO DE JANEIRO — With the United States in danger of losing for the first time since 2006, NBA stars Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving took command Wednesday to subdue stubborn Australia at the Rio Olympics.
The Americans outlasted the upset-minded Aussies 98-88 as Anthony scored a game-high 31 points, 14 of them in the fourth quarter, and Irving sank 12 of his 19 in the last period.
“At the end of the day I was in my zone,” Anthony said. “My teammates found me when I was open.”
The Knicks star is seeking to become the first three-time gold winner in men’s Olympic basketball. His 31 points leave him as the all-time USA scorer at the Games with 293 points, surpassing LeBron James.
San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills helped keep Australia in the preliminary-round game with 30 points.
The Americans improved to 3-0 in Rio and 83-1 under coach Mike Krzyzewski, who took over not long after the last US loss at the Olympics, a 2004 semifinals defeat to Argentina that still stings.
Australian teams are 0-19 against the US, but the full-game test it posed may fuel belief among other teams that the US squad can be threatened and perhaps denied a third consecutive gold medal.
“We’re a bit disappointed. We lost,” star Aussie center Andrew Bogut said.
“We had every opportunity to win the game. That’s an attitude change. We have a different feeling now and we want to keep that going.”
The Aussies have four NBA champion players and established themselves as perhaps the Americans’ biggest rivals for gold.
In other Group A play, four-time NBA champion Tony Parker hit a game-winning jumper with 31 seconds remaining to give France a 76-75 victory over stubborn Serbia.
Parker, 34, Mills’ Spurs teammate, capped a game-ending 10-2 run by the French.
The victory leaves France, which lost its opener to Australia, at 2-1 in Group A, with Serbia falling to 1-2.
The victory means France, which has yet to face China or the Americans, is likely to finish third in the table and face a possible semifinal against the US.
In a battle of winless teams, Venezuela outlasted China for a 72-68 win, dealing a potentially fatal blow to China’s hopes of advancing.
Nestor Colmenares lead the Venezuelans, now 1-3, with 16 points, while China’s Yi Jianlian had 18 points and 10 rebounds in defeat.
In the women’s section, Kia Nurse scored 14 points and Tamara Tatham added 13 as Canada clinched its second straight berth in the quarterfinals, beating Senegal 68-58.
Canada’s win also clinched a spot in the quarterfinals for the US, and the teams will play Friday with the unbeaten Canadians needing a better start than they managed against the African nation still looking for its first Olympic win in its second games.
Senegal (0-3) scored the first five points before captain Kim Gaucher finally knocked down the first shot for Canada (3-0) with 6:15 left in the first quarter. That was the first of 10 straight points as Canada took the lead for good.
In other matches it was: Spain 89 China 68; United States 110 Serbia 84.
