Inside the rings : Bryant scores 25 as U.S. defeats Australia
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008
BEIJING — Don’t doubt this U. S. men’s basketball team — and sure don’t challenge them, either.
Especially if it’s going to make Kobe Bryant flash his NBA MVP form.
Bryant scored 25 points in his best game in Beijing, and the men’s U. S. Olympic team advanced to the semifinals by beating Australia 116-85 on Wednesday.
The United States will play defending champion Argentina or Greece on Friday morning at 9: 15 a.m. for a spot in Sunday’s 1: 30 a.m. gold-medal game.
Locked in what looked like another tough game in Australia, the Americans sent the Aussies’ upset hopes down under with a 14-0 burst to open the second half, featuring nine points from Bryant.
“Early in the game, they made a lot of tough shots,” U. S. point guard Chris Paul said. “We were doing what we were supposed to be doing and they made tough shots, but sooner or later we’ll impose our will. I don’t know if you can keep up with us for 40 minutes.” LeBron James added 16 points for the Americans, who are guaranteed a chance to play for a medal. They need two more victories for their first gold medal in a major international competition since the 2000 Sydney Games.
As the U. S. expected, with the gold medal getting closer, the games are getting tougher.
Australia stayed with the United States for the first 15 minutes of the game, duplicating the strong performance it had against the Americans in an 87-76 exhibition loss in Shanghai on Aug. 5 — a contest the Americans led by only seven points midway through the fourth quarter.
U. S. players picked from a list of excuses, including fatigue from too many games and looking past the game while thinking ahead to Beijing, but it was clear early on that the Australians gained confidence from that effort.
“They’ve been the most difficult team for us to defend,” U. S. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “They’re a force to be reckoned with. They caused us a lot of problems.” Showing no fear of the Americans, the Australians delivered hard fouls and attacked the basket instead of settling for jump shots. They trailed by just a point after a quarter and five more than halfway through the second — and would have been closer if not for four missed chippies in the half.
A hard foul on Carmelo Anthony by Mark Worthington late in the second quarter fired up James, and maybe triggered Bryant’s burst.
Bryant had two buckets in a late run that turned a five-point lead into a 12-point halftime advantage, then helped the Americans make it a rout to start the third. He made two three-pointers and had three more points in the first 3 1 / 2 minutes of the period as the U. S. lead grew to 69-43. Australia was shut out for nearly half the period, finally scoring on Patrick Mills’ three-pointer with 6: 02 remaining.
SOFTBALL U. S. struggles past Japan The U. S. had its toughest battle yet against a Japan team the U. S. defeated in the gold medal game in Sydney in 2000 and escaped in extra innings in Athens in 2004. It went to extras once again Wednesday, before the U. S. broke it open with four runs in the top of the ninth, the game-winning hit delivered by Caitlin Lowe and the big blast a home run by Crystl Bustos for a 4-1 victory to move into the gold medal game. It was the American’s 19 th consecutive victory. They have outscored their opponents 57-2 in this tournament and 108-3 over the past two Olympics. Lowe opened the ninth-inning rally by driving in Natasha Watley with a slow single up the middle. Jessica Mendoza followed with a walk. Watley, the previous inning’s last batter, had begun the inning on second by as dictated by international rules to speed up play. Bustos, tied for the team lead with four home runs in the tournament, launched a home run about 250 feet into the left field stands. Cat Osterman relieved winning pitcher Monica Abbott with one out in the bottom of the ninth after Japan scored a run. Osterman retired the side to secure the victory. In the gold medal game, their opponent will again be Japan in what will be the last Olympic softball game until at least 2016. The Japanese beat Australia 4-3 in 12 innings later to advance, leaving the Aussies with the bronze. BASEBALL U. S. heads to medal round Brian Barden singled in the go-ahead run to break a scoreless tie in the 11 th inning on the way to a 4-2 victory over Japan. The Americans earned the third seed in Friday’s medal round, with the Japanese getting fourth. The U. S. will play defending champion Cuba, while Japan will take on South Korea, the only undefeated team.
BOXING Cubans reach semifinals Cuba’s last two fighters reached the semifinals with one-sided victories, guaranteeing eight medals for the sport’s now-unquestioned power. Flyweight Andris Laffita earned a marquee meeting with Russia’s Georgy Balakshin, while middleweight Emilio Correa emulated his medal-winning father with a victory over Uzbekistan’s Elshod Rasulov. Italy’s Vincenzo Picardi left the arena on his coach’s shoulders after beating Tunisia’s Walid Cherif to clinch a medal. Italy already clinched medals for its two heaviest fighters, world champions Roberto Cammarelle and Clemente Russo, but rarely does well in the lighter classes. Dzhakhon Kurbanov, the light heavyweight from Tajikistan who bit his opponent on the shoulder in a quarterfinal bout, won’t face additional sanctions or suspension by the International Boxing Association (AIBA ). Spokesman Richard Baker said Wednesday that Kurbanov’s disqualification from the Olympic boxing tournament will be his only punishment for the bizarre infraction, which occurred with 17 seconds left in the third round of his bout with Kazakhstan’s Yerkebulan Shynaliyev. BEACH VOLLEYBALL BMX makes debut Americans Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor have won their second consecutive gold medal in beach volleyball, playing through a steady rain to beat Wang Jie and Tian Jia of China 21-18, 21-18. Walsh and May-Treanor, who did not lose a single set in Beijing, extended their winning streak to 108 matches in a row. Earlier, Xue Chen and Zhang Xi won China’s first beach volleyball medal, beating Brazilians Talita and Renata 21-19, 21-17 for the bronze.
WRESTLING Investigation planned The Court of Arbitration for Sport will investigate the Greco-Roman bout that so incensed Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian that he dropped his bronze medal in disgust and eventually had it stripped by the International Olympic Committee. OTHER SPORTS In men’s volleyball, the U. S. team beat Serbia, remaining undefeated and earning a spot in the semifinals against Russia. Brazil plays Italy in the other semifinal match on Friday. The U. S. men’s water polo team knows who it will be playing in the semifinals: Serbia. The other semi will pit reigning European champs Montenegro against two-time defending Olympic gold medalist Hungary. Serbia beat Spain to advance. Montenegro moved on by upsetting Croatia, which came in as the world’s No. 1 team. American Rami Zur failed to qualify for the finals of the men’s 1, 000-meter single kayak (K-1 ). China added three boats to the finals, with the 1, 000-meter canoe double team, the 1, 000 K-2 and the 1, 000 K-4 all qualifying. The U. S. men’s beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers needed only 41 minutes to eliminate Georgia in straight sets in the semifinals, then watched Brazil’s No. 2 team beat its best, the Athens gold medalists. In women’s field hockey, Spain beat the U. S. 3-2, leaving the Americans in eighth place. All three members of the Chinese squad advanced easily in women’s table tennis singles competition, especially Zhang Yining, the defending gold medalist and top-ranked player in the world. Two U. S. players — Gao Jun and Wang Chen — also stayed alive.
In men’s handball, Croatia’s gold-medal defense reached the semifinals with a victory over Denmark. The Croats will next play the French, who beat Russia. Iceland will play Spain in the other semifinal. Iceland defeated Poland and Spain beat South Korea. — Democrat-Gazette Press Services At a glance MEDALS China edged closer to the U. S. for the overall medals lead, with 79 total, 45 of them gold. The U. S. has 81 medals, 26 of them gold.
DOPING Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine is under investigation for a positive doping test and could be stripped of her silver medal in the Olympic heptathlon. The International Olympic Committee disciplinary commission and executive board are expected to rule on the case Thursday. If found guilty of a doping offense, Blonska, 30, would lose her medal and be expelled from the games. AMERICAN ’NEST’ EGG After mostly disappointing finishes for Americans in track and field, Stephanie Brown Trafton won the women’s discus, the first gold medal of the Beijing Games for the U. S. Said Brown Trafton: “I came to the Bird’s Nest to lay a golden egg.... I hope this sets a trend.” SPEAKING “I’ve been looking at some Aston Martins and some Maseratis. It would be pretty sweet to get an old-school Aston Martin, some of the old-school [James ] Bond ones. That would be sick.” — Michael Phelps, in an interview with The Associated Press on his plans to buy a new car
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