When it finally came, during the second half of the U.S. men's basketball team's 119-86 quarterfinal victory over Australia, nobody seemed surprised. But some tried to take credit.
"I was on him the whole game: 'Wake up!' He looked a little sleepy out there," Carmelo Anthony said. "I guess I woke the Mamba up, and he got it going in that third quarter."
Bryant, who entered averaging a meager 9.4 points and failed to score in the first half, dropped a 3-point barrage on the pesky, physical Australians, sinking six en route to his team-high 20 points Wednesday.
The U.S. advances to face Argentina in a Friday semifinal, three days after the teams tussled and Facundo Campazzo punched Anthony in the groin.
"It's going to be a physical game," Kevin Durant said. "But we're a physical team too."
Australia used physical defense and an 11-0 run to open the second half and pull within three after a Bryant turnover. Then, that look appeared.
Two of Bryant's 3-pointers came in an 18-second span around his third-quarter steal. Four more came during a ridiculous 66-second stretch in the fourth when the U.S. pushed its lead to more comfortable â€" and typical â€" margins.
"Not surprising," said LeBron James, who posted a triple-double. "There were a few calls I felt he got hit on that he didn't get early. He relishes that. He loves that challenge of bouncing back from adversity."
Bryant, of course, loves any challenge, which is why he summarily dismissed any suggestion of needing Anthony to wake him up.
"Man, he was just saying, 'Let me see you. I want to see what we see during the season,' " Bryant said. "At that point, I was already revved up."
James had stomped on the accelerator earlier, playing his point forward role to near-perfection. One of his three no-look passes in the first half bounced through Aron Baynes' legs and set up Anthony for a three-point play.
James finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists in 30 minutes, falling two rebounds shy of the U.S. Olympic record held by James Brewer and Tim Duncan.
"I'm proud of the win," James said. "That's all that matters to me. I don't really care about what I do statistically."
Bryant certainly needed no conscience to perform as he did in the second half after his sluggish statistics. Through the first five games, he had only 14 field goals and 15 personal fouls, and he missed his first five shots against Australia.
"I was just kind of searching for something to get me going, searching for something to kind of activate the Black Mamba," he said.
When Bryant is talking in the third person, it's usually a sign of trouble for opponents. And a player who owns five NBA championships and is seeking his second straight gold medal knows failure often is part of success.
Consider yourself warned, Argentina.
"Any person who has achieved the excellence he has â€" so there are only a few â€" they take responsibility for it," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "There are no excuses. He's one of the top 10 players of all time, maybe one of the top five. He just keeps working. You'd be amazed at the preparation he does for a contest.
"You just have to stick with him. We did, and he really broke out of his scoring slump."
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