OLY - Top 10 basketball moments from the Olympics (Part II)

LONDON (Olympics) – On Wednesday we reviewed some of the best moments of the London 2012 Olympic Basketball Tournaments as we counted down from 10 to five.

Here are moments five to one, as voted for by our Facebook fans.

5 – Belinda Snell’s half-court buzzer-beater

Australia’s women continue their streak within this top ten (see part I). Late on, Australia makes a desperate foul France’s Isabelle Yacoubou. The French are two points up with three seconds on the clock. She makes the first misses the second. Abbey Bishop grabs the rebound, feeds the ball out to Belinda Snell, who takes a wild shot from well within her own half. Scores level at 65 points apiece. Crowd goes crazy. This play would probably be higher if Australia hadn’t lost in overtime.

4 – Vitaliy Fridzon’s winning three-pointer against Brazil

Russia coach David Blatt is well-known for using his time-outs effectively. Trailing by two with six seconds to play a time-out is called. A two point play could have been expected but Russia go for the win or a possible tie on the rebound. Shved inbounds to Fridzon in the left corner. Leandro Barbosa comes out and throws himself at Shved, who falls backwards trying to avoid him. Unbalanced, he nevertheless manages to release and sends a dagger deep into Brazilian hearts with the unlikeliest three-pointer with less than two seconds on the clock.

3 – Patty Mills buzzer-beater vs Russia

What comes around goes around for Russia, who this time were on the receiving end of a killer three. It had looked like Fridzon had won it again for Russia, making two free-throws to bring Russia one ahead with four seconds on the clock. Australia coach Brett Brown calls a time-out. Mills inbounds to Joe Ingles, Ingles plays it back to Mills who wins it from way downtown.

2 – LeBron James’ triple double

Proving yet again his ability to step it up when it counts, LeBron James was near perfect in USA’s Quarter-Final against Australia. He registered 11 points, 12 assists and 14 rebounds for the second recorded Olympic triple double.

1 – Carmelo Anthony’s 37 points in demolition of Nigeria

In case you were wondering, his 37 points still leave Melo some way short of the all-time points record for a single Olympic game. Oscar Schmidt once scored 55 for Brazil. But, Anthony’s performance was stellar, with one of the best three-point shooting exhibitions of all time. He scored 10 of his 12 attempts on his way to help USA record 156 points, the highest score in Olympic history. Oh, and he only spent 14 minutes on court.

Click here for moments 10 to five.