Olympic basketball scores 2016: Paul George is making the most of his Team USA redemption

After a slow start for Team USA, George led the Americans to an easy win over Venezuela to move to 2-0, plus everything else from Monday in basketball at the Olympic Games.

by Liam Boylan-Pett

Aug 9, 2016, 12:30 PM UTC

Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

It wasn't a great day for Team USA against Venezuela, but they still won by 44 points. The team of superstars were plagued by sloppy play early, and they found themselves tied with the Venezuelans after one quarter. As expected, they eventually went off, going on a 21-2 run in the second to blow things open. They went on to win 113-69 thanks to the forceful play of DeAndre Jordan and Paul George dominating two years after breaking his leg in a US uniform.

It’s the main topic of conversation whenever a sideline reporter talks to him after the game or when the commentators are discussing his play in the game, but George doesn’t appear rattled about the injury -- he just keeps on playing basketball. After a successful return to the NBA last season, he’s been superb in Rio. After dropping 20 points on Venezuela, George is averaging 17.5 points per game in the Olympics and the US is coasting.

George couldn't miss against Venezuela. He was 6-for-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from deep. Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving are the faces of the team, but George -- as he did for spurts this season -- is proving just how much he belongs.

He proved how versatile he was against Venezuela. He was scoring from all over the court, and even played power forward hen the Americans tried to emulate the Warriors' Death Lineup with Draymond Green at center. It's not against the best competition, but seeing George play like this has to have the Pacers excited about what's to come with George playing the way he is -- especially when he's throwing down gravity-defying dunks.

George isn’t worried about the injury that kept him out for a year -- and neither is Team USA. It’ll take a miracle for the Americans to fall short of a gold medal, especially if George keeps this up.

Team USA will take on Australia on Wednesday.

Here are two things we learned on Monday in Rio:

As dominant as the men are, the women are even better

The American women haven’t lost a game at the Olympics since 1992. That’s not a typo. They went undefeated and won gold in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 and are on pace to do the same this year. They blew out Spain 103-63 on Monday to move to 2-0, and Spain is FIBA’s No. 3-ranked team in the world. Nearly everything is going right for the women’s team. Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi have yet to turn the ball over. Brittney Griner is a dominant force down low. It’s like the UConn women, but on an international stage and even more lopsided. And if the rest of the world is looking for any bit of hope: Maya Moore isn’t even playing that well yet -- Team USA can be even even better.

They’ll take on Serbia on Wednesday.

Australia is going to make things fun against the US men on Wednesday

Bogut: "Teams who ask the Americans to autograph their shoes are beaten before the game begins. But that's not us and we think we can win."
— dave smith (@davesportsgod) August 9, 2016

Australia doesn't quite have the NBA talent of Team USA, but they've rolled through the first two games of Rio, taking out France and Serbia easily. They won 95-80 over Serbia on Wednesday behind 26 points from Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova's 13 assists. The Australians are playing well with Dellavedova running the point and controlling the offense -- it's like he's back to the player who helped lead the Cavaliers to a 2-1 series lead over the Warriors in the 2015 NBA Finals. And now Australia thinks they have a shot against the US. It's not likely, but if the US comes out slowly like they did in their first two games, they better watch out for a hungry Australia team.