Carmelo surpasses LeBron, becomes USA's all-time leading Olympic scorer

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In his fourth Olympic Games with the U.S. men's national team, Carmelo Anthony has finally assumed his place at the top of the scoring summit.

Anthony came into Team USA's preliminary against Australia on Wednesday night sitting 11 points behind LeBron James for the program's all-time Olympic scoring lead. He surpassed him by notching his 12th, 13th, and 14th points of the game (and the 274th, 275th, and 276th of his Olympic career) with a 3-ball late in the first quarter.

Anthony, who started the game ranked third on the Olympic scoring list, passed David Robinson minutes earlier.

Anthony was a man on a mission, coming out of the gates with three straight 3-pointers in the game's first 100 seconds to account for USA's first nine points. All told, he hit five of his first seven shots and four of his first five triples, needing just eight minutes of game time to set the new benchmark. He finished with a game-high 31 points, bringing his record total to 293 while leading the U.S. to a surprisingly tight 98-88 win.

With eight rebounds in the game, Anthony also passed James for second all-time in Olympic rebounds for USA Basketball. He needs 24 more to catch Robinson for tops in that category.

A 20-year-old Anthony was part of the disappointing U.S. team that stumbled to a bronze-medal finish at the 2004 Games, but he's since been instrumental in helping the team capture gold medals in 2008 and 2012.

He's taken a leadership role as the most senior member of the 2016 squad, which looks poised to capture its third straight gold.