The U.S. men's basketball team put in a record-breaking performance to thrash Nigeria 156-73 for their third-straight victory in Group A.
Carmelo Anthony led the way with 37 points, the most by an American player in the Olympics, as the U.S. also broke the scoring record with their haul of 156 points. On a night when they made basketball look like the easiest sport in the game, Anthony made 10-12 three-pointers, also an Olympic record.
"We just shot better than any team in a game that I've ever coached," U.S. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
A reporter asked Nigerian forward Ike Diogu if the U.S. broke an unspoken Olympic code, by running up the score, with Krzyzewski immediately rubbishing the suggestions.
"The first thing we did was not play LeBron (James) and Kobe (Bryant) in the second half," Krzyzewski said. "The second thing we did is, even with Carmelo shooting like that, we benched him.
"I take offense to (the reporter's) question because there's no way in the world our program, the United States, is out to humiliate anyone."
Diogu, a former NBA player, concurred. "I don't think they went out of their way to try to humiliate us. At least, I didn't feel that way."
U.S. broke the Olympic record of 138 points set by Brazil in 1988 against Egypt. The tournament favorites made an astonishing 29 of 46 three-point attempts.
"It's a great accomplishment to get that record," Anthony said. "We did it in a very classy way."
Russell Westbrook chipped in with 21 points while Bryant had 16.
In other matches, Tony Parker led France to an 82-74 victory over Lithuania to leave them on the verge of a place in the quarter-finals. The San Antonio Spurs point guard scored 27 points as the French pulled away in the second half to earn their second win from three games in Group A.
Australia eased past China to notch their first victory of the tournament 81-61. Patrick Mills top-scored with 20 points and David Andersen made 17 as Australia finally got their Olympic campaign up and running at the third attempt.
Another Spurs man Manu Ginobili starred for Argentina as they overcame an early scare to eventually score a comfortable 92-69 win over Tunisia.
Vitaliy Fridzon's three-pointer with four seconds to go, helped Russia snatch a 75-74 victory over an unlucky Russian side.
Olympic silver medallists in Beijing, Spain, flirted with a loss against hosts Great Britain, but held on to the skin of their teeth, to win 79-78.
