There was a lot for the US Olympic team to like on Monday — and a lot not to like.
Anthony Davis scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Tyrese Haliburton came up with a pair of late three-pointers that helped stop a freefall by the Americans, and the US beat Australia 98-92 to improve to 2-0 in its five-game slate of exhibitions leading into the Paris Olympics.
Devin Booker scored 16 for the US, Anthony Edwards scored 14 and three players — LeBron James, Bam Adebayo and Joel Embiid — finished with 10 for the US, who are this week playing host to a pair of exhibitions in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. They are today to play Serbia.
Photo: AP
Jock Landale scored 20 for Australia, who got 17 from Josh Giddey and 14 from Dyson Daniels.
The US led by 24 midway through the third quarter, yet saw that lead cut to six with 5 minutes, 5 seconds left after Australia went on a 39-21 run, but Haliburton had the next six points on his threes, pushing the lead back to 92-80.
Australia cut it to four on two separate occasions, but Booker went four-for-four from the line in the final eight seconds to ensure the US would escape.
“Third quarter, we started turning the ball over,” US coach Steve Kerr said. “We gave up a ton of points at the basket. Back cuts, offensive boards and so, the game shifted. It’s a good lesson for us. Better to learn that lesson now than later, and this will be a good tape for us to watch, but I give Australia a ton of credit. They were great. They fought. They were really physical. Took it to us in the last quarter and a half and really made it a game.”
Just like in the Canada game, the so-called second unit — Haliburton, Jrue Holiday, Adebayo, Davis and Booker — changed the game.
That was the group on the floor when the US took a game that was tied at 19-19 with 3:15 left in the first and turned it into a 39-23 lead — a 20-4 run in a span of just more than 5 minutes.
Kerr used that group as his starting five to open the second half, but it has become a clear trend already: When the US goes to its bench and can replace All-Stars with other All-Stars, it is just going to be a massive problem for opponents who do not have anywhere near that same level of depth.
“The strength of our team is our depth and we have to utilize our depth,” Kerr said.
Taiwanese tennis ace Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jan Zielinski of Poland on Friday advanced to the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon, just one step away from clinching their first mixed doubles title at the tournament. Hsieh and Zielinski, who won the Australian Open title earlier this year and who had reached the semi-finals at the French Open, battled past second seeds Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand 7-6, (7/0), 6-3. In the first set, the Taiwanese-Polish duo saved a set point, pushing the set into a tiebreaker. They clinched the set by winning the tiebreaker with seven straight points. The duo
CHALLENGE SET: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Poland’s Jan Zielinski are to play against New Zealand’s Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe in the mixed doubles semi-finals Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and her Polish partner, Jan Zielinski, on Thursday advanced to the mixed doubles semi-final at Wimbledon in a tight battle that ended in a super tiebreaker. The seventh-seeded duo, who won the Australian Open mixed doubles title earlier this year and reached the semi-finals of the French Open, needed 125 minutes to beat Britain’s Jamie Murray and the US’ Taylor Townsend 7-6, 6-7 (10-5). Hsieh and Zielinski took the first set with a 7-2 win in the tiebreaker and seemed poised to close out the match in the second set tiebreaker when they took a 4-0 lead. With the Taiwan-Poland
Modern pentathlon has obstacles ahead as it bids farewell to the horse at the Paris Olympics and prepares for a future more familiar to fans of Ninja Warrior and Tough Mudder. The blend of fencing, freestyle swimming, show jumping, pistol shooting and cross-country running caused a commotion at the 2021 Tokyo Games when a German coach struck a horse that refused a fence. The sport was dropped from the initial list for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, but reinstated after the governing Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM), led by 77-year-old German Klaus Schormann, decided the equestrian element would be replaced by
Japan’s national women’s team yesterday beat Thailand 94-63 to win the William Jones Cup in Taipei without having lost a single game during the five-day tournament. Thailand fared well in the first two quarters, and were ahead 37-38 at halftime, but Japan turned the game around, leading 67-58 by the end of the third quarter. A flagging Thailand only managed to score five points in the fourth. Japan’s Haru Owaki led the scoring with 21 points, 17 of which she scored in the fourth quarter. Taiwan’s A team placed second in the tournament after beating the Philippines 82-66 and winning four