Prior to the start of the 2016 Olympic games in Rio, LeBron James was Team USA's all-time leading scorer with a total of 273 points to his name. However, in the Americans' recent 98-88 win over the Australian national team, James' close friend, NBA veteran Carmelo Anthony, overtook him to make USA Olympic history.
With Anthony becoming the all-time leading scorer, it means that James is now in second, whilst David Robinson and Michael Jordan are in third and fourth place with 270 and 256 points respectively, according to a report from ESPN. LeBron James may be regretting his decision not to go to Rio for the Olympics this time around.
Carmelo Anthony completely dominated the game against Australia, becoming the game's highest scorer with a tally of 31 points across the four quarters of play. He made a total of four 3-pointers in the first quarter alone with the last one sending him past James in the Team USA scoring charts. He scored 14 in total in the first quarter and completed the game with a total of 293 points throughout his entire Olympic career.
Those 293 points are still miles away from the all-time record set by Oscar Schmidt of Brazil who managed a whopping 1,093 points during his Olympic stints. However, unlike Anthony, Schmidt did not have to compete with loads of big name players for minutes on the court. Anthony is also 32, so it is highly likely that this will be his final run in the Olympics.
Australia is in no way easy competition when it comes to basketball; especially with players such as Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut, among others. In spite of this, news sites such as USA Today believe that Carmelo Anthony was the driving force behind the USA team that battled through the more physical style of play of the Australians.
