Carmelo Anthony used the memory of one of Team USA's most painful heartaches to fuel him in leading them past their first challenge in the Rio Olympics.

With the USA trailing Australia 72-70 in the fourth quarter of Day 5 action, the all-star forward went on a tear where he scored 14 of the team's next 18 points in sparking them to a hard fought 88-78 win over an experienced Australian team that featured NBA vets Patty Mills, Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova.

Veteran Anthony to Rescue

"I was in my zone," said Anthony, who was on the 2004 team that was the last Team USA squad to lose in Olympic play. "My teammates found me when I was open. I didn't try to go get it. Everything happened in the flow of the basketball game."

To let Anthony tell it, the Americans had been expecting such a game and will be a better team now that they've actually experienced it.

"It was a physical game, a grind-out game," he added. "We knew it was going to come down to the end of the game, where we'd have to buckle down and make plays down the stretch."

Added Coach Mike Krzyzewski, "That's the first real international game we had. This is the real world now."

Serbia Next

Next up for the Americans is Friday's matchup against Serbia at 5 p.m. EST on NBC. You can watch a live stream by visiting Rio2016.com.

At 1-2, the Serbs dropped their last game to France 76-75 on a Tony Parker late game winner. Serbia boasts a starting five of Miroslav Raduljoca, Nikola Jokic, Milos Teodosic, Nemanja Nedovic and Bogdan Bogdanovic.

The Americans will counter with their high-powered lineup of Anthony, Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson.