Day 7 in the 2016 Rio Olympics Men’s Basketball tournament saw Australia dominate China, USA nearly upset by Serbia, and France cruise past Venezuela.
*The following also appears on FIBA.com#Rio2016 Roundup - Day 7.
AUS over CHN, 93-68
Australia gave Andrew Bogut the afternoon off and still hammered China, 93-68, to clinch a top-four spot in Group A and a place in the Quarter-Finals.
Less than two days after their 10-point defeat to the USA, the Boomers broke open a close game midway through the second quarter and pulled away for a comfortable victory.
Australia coach Andrej Lemanis, with a game against 2015 FIBA Americas Championship winners Venezuela still to come, improved to 3-1 with the triumph while reigning FIBA Asia champions China slumped to 0-4.
"I think we're in a good place," Australia coach Andrej Lemanis said. "We can go big, we can go little, we run well. But the thing is right now defense is what's winning us basketball games and that's very pleasing because that can be consistent."
Cameron Bairstow had 7 of his team-high 17 points and 5 of his team's 17 rebounds in the first half, while Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin, China's players taken in the second round of this summer's NBA Draft, combined for 5 points and 2 rebounds in the first two quarters. Bairstow ended up a rebound shy of a double-double.
USA over SRB, 94-91
The United States prevailed in their latest clash with Serbia but this time, it was nail-biter.
Beaten like a drum, 129-92, in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup Final by the USA, the Serbians this time charged back from an early 27-9 deficit and had an attempt from the three-point line to tie it at the buzzer but Bogdan Bogdanovic only drew iron, hitting the front of the rim, and the two-time defending Olympic champions held on for a 94-91 win.
The Americans will still be favorites to reach the top of the podium, but it's not going to be a romp as it was two years ago in Madrid.
Kyrie Irving made plays throughout for the USA, but so did Paul George, who finished with 12 points and 9 rebounds. Jokic had his best game for Serbia and Milos Teodosic was spectacular in all aspects of the Serbian offense.
FRA over VEN, 96-56
France claimed their third win in a row at the Olympic Basketball Tournament by beating Venezuela, 96-56, on Friday night.
Les Bleus improved to 3-1 in Group A to join the USA and Australia in the Quarter-Finals. Meanwhile, Venezuela dropped to 1-3 and must combine a win against the Boomers on Sunday with a China defeat of Serbia in order to advance.
Tony Parker had 12 of his 14 points in the first half as France turned an 18-17 deficit late in the first quarter into a 42-30 advantage at the break.
A run of 8 unanswered points put them in front 25-18 early in the second period and they had their first double-digit lead of the night, 34-24, on Antoine Diot's pair of free-throws with 4:03 to go to halftime.
Joffrey Lauvergne had a game-high 17 points on 8-of-9 from the field to go with 4 rebounds and 2 assists in just 19 minutes.
All images are from FIBA.
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