BEIJING — The Angola player made a nifty little move toward the U.S. basket and pulled up for the short jumper in the paint, something to tell the kids about, until a jack-hammering arm smacked the ball out of his hands and sent the shooter to the hardwood.
Such was today for Angola in its 97-76 loss to Team USA, in America’s tuneup game for Greece on Thursday. From LeBron James’ shot block to Kobe Bryant’s arena-shaking dunk, it was a showcase by showmen.
For Carmelo Anthony, Denver’s all-star, the game served as an opportunity to regroup, following an awful game against China. Anthony scored 12 points today on 4-for-6 shooting, while grabbing a team-high six rebounds in 21 minutes.
“I think Carmelo is getting progressively better,” Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He’s getting really in good game shape. He hasn’t been shooting well. But today, he didn’t concentrate on shooting; he concentrated on rebounding. And then the shots came. We haven’t shot the ball well from the outside since we’ve been here, but I believe we will. To see Carmelo come on like that, it’s encouraging.”
Anthony plays small forward for Denver but power forward for America, so his time in the defensive low post has enhanced his chances at rebounding. Against lowly Angola, he was actively rebounding, blocking out more consistently than against the Chinese.
“I told coach before this tournament, I’m going to try to get the record — 16 rebounds — in one of these games,” Anthony said. “I know I can score at any given time, but I’ll leave the scoring up to Kobe, LeBron and Dwyane Wade – he’s playing fantastic right now. So if I can go out there and grab 16 rebounds, that’s a whole lot better for the team than scoring 20, 25 points.
“That’s my role — rebound and defend.”
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
