LONDON — At least Tunisia forced Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski into his first benchings of the Olympics.
With his team shockingly trailing Tunisia by three points late in the first quarter after a sluggish start, Coach K benched his five starters en masse then started the bench brigade in the second half. It sparked Redeem Team II to pull away and post its expected 110-63 rout Tuesday before 12,000 at the basketball venue at Olympic Park.
It all worked well for Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, part of the second unit. Anthony finished with a team-high 16 points in 11:58, going 6-of-6 from the field to ignite the 47-point win that gave USA a 2-0 record.
“You never know what Coach K is going to do,’’ Anthony said. “You never know what kind of lineup he’s going to throw out there. You just got to stay ready. He held us responsible. He held us accountable for what we were doing out there.’’
The reserve sparkplugs also included Russell Westbrook (11 points) and Andre Iguodala (two wild putback dunks) as LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant sat to start the second half.
“We’re 12 deep,’’ Anthony said. “You put anybody out there on the court with us, we know how to play with each other, we have each other’s back.’’
Krzyzewski was in spin mode, denying he benched James, Bryant, Durant, Chris Paul and starting center Tyson Chandler. He claimed he wanted to extend minutes from the bench guys.
Yada, yada, yada. The Melos and Iggys looked more engaged than the Kobes and LeBrons.
“Coach made a decision and it worked,’’ Durant said.
By hitting its treys and playing scrappy defense, Tunisia gave the U.S. a game in the first quarter, taking the lead on four separate occasions. The North Africans led 15-12 with 2:35 left when Krzyzewski called on his reinforcements, his starters looking lethargic.
“In 2010, we played them and won the first three minutes and we still think about it,’’ Tunisian center Sala Mejri said. “You think that is funny, but when you are with them in the first quarter, it’s big.We know how they jump and we expect that.”
The opening session made Tunisia happy despite the third-quarter onslaught during which Team USA engineered a 25-3 run, sparked by Anthony’s shotmaking.
“Carmelo’s really as good a player as we have on our team,’’ Krzyzewski said. “Internationally, he’s one of the great players, as good as anyone. It took our bench to get us going defensively, and Carmelo was the key guy.’’
Tunisia, the only Olympic team without an NBA player, was sticking it to the Americans early and drained 7 of 16 3-pointers in the first half. Team USA led just 46-33 at the break. France was down 16 points to the U.S. at halftime.
Durant finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds as six players hit double figures and the club shot 61 percent. However, the final margin of victory did not beat the 54-point spread set by online bookmaker Bovada.
True to form, at game’s end, several Tunisian players took their shoes off and had them autographed by the Americans.
“They look at the game as the game of their life,’’ Krzyzewski said. “I told them they’re going to come out and play really well.’’
Aside from the first quarter, the other scare was Kevin Love, the only legit big man on the roster after Chandler. Love bumped knees in the third quarter and left the game limping, but he returned in the fourth and Krzyzewski said he was alright.
Iguodala said the second unit started the second half because it is more “defensive-minded.’’ Coach K insisted he wanted to spread the minutes.
“Look, we’re much better than they are athletically, experience-wise,’’ he said. “We’re not coming out there tonight to try to win by 100 points. We’re tying to get minutes and make sure no one’s hurt.’’
Tunisia coach Adel Tlatli said, “I thank the way they played. They could’ve taken us to the cleaners.’’
After the first-quarter benchings, the unit of Westbrook, Anthony, Iguodala, Love and Deron Williams ran off nine straight points to finish the quarter as the Americans escaped with a slim 21-15 lead. But Tunisia didn’t immediately go away, down just 35-30 with 4:40 left in the half before world order was restored.