Rio 2016: USA, Australia impress in basketball openers

Omnisports

August 7, 2016 2:27 AM

The United States did what they were supposed to do while the Australians pulled off an upset in basketball at the Olympics.

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The opening day of basketball gave us a little bit of everything as the United States and Australia claimed wins.

USA overcame a sluggish shooting start to win easily, beating China 119-62 in their opener behind a scorching defensive effort.

China finished with more turnovers (24) than made field goals (20).

While USA dominated as expected, the surprise of the day came as Australia upset France 87-66 to win their first Olympic opener since 1996.

Leading the way were NBA players Patty Mills (21 points) and Andrew Bogut (18).

The first day of action concluded with Serbia making quick work of Venezuela in an 86-62 win.

The women tipped off Olympic action on Saturday as well.

France beat Turkey 55-39, Canada overcame China 90-68, Japan edged Belarus 77-73 and Australia beat hosts Brazil 84-66.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY

MVP OF THE DAY

Kevin Durant gave USA the offensive boost they needed after a slow start, hitting 10 of his 14 field-goal attempts to finish with 25 points.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

"We just wanted to send a statement to the rest of the world. Come out this first game and let everybody know that we're focused, we're locked in and we're about business on this trip," - Carmelo Anthony after the USA rout of China

"We were not ready to play. We played bad, they played great, that's it," - Nic Batum on France's blowout loss to Australia.

WHAT'S NEXT

Group A of the men's tournament will rest on Sunday as Group B (Argentina, Spain, Brazil, Lithuania, Croatia and Nigeria) take to the court for their first action in Rio. On the women's side, five-time defending champions USA begin their quest for six in a row against Senegal.

Omnisports

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