I guess that move to the bench is paying off for Carmelo Anthony and the United States Men's baseball team.

The New York Knicks star absolutely blew up on Thursday night, pouring in 37 points as the United States smoked Nigeria 156-73. Those 37 points were an American Olympic record for points in a game. The crazy part? Anthony only played 14 minutes.

Anthony was absolutely on fire on Thursday night, hitting 13 of 16 shots from the field, including 10 of 12 three-pointers. It was so insane you probably couldn't duplicate it on a video game set on "beginner."

Oddly enough, Anthony was only 1 of 3 from the free throw line. I wonder if anyone mentioned that to him in the locker room?

Melo added four rebounds, an assist and a steal and didn't even step on the court in the fourth quarter.

Like Vince Carter's dunk over France's Frederic Weis back in 2000, this is a performance no one who watched will ever forget. Anthony was simply unstoppable against Nigeria.

Photo: Garrett Ellwood/National Basketball/Getty Images

Bookmark Medal Detector for more on the Olympics from Rumors and Rants and other Yardbarker bloggers