As the United States prepares for this summer Olympics, there are many questions about not only Rio’s readiness for the 2016 games, but also about the success of a star-studded U.S. Men’s basketball team.
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Game Hero: Durant led the scoring but you can’t argue with the toughness that Cousins, who had 17 points and 5 rebounds, brings the Americans on the interior.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump may fret about the United States’ trade imbalance with China but on the basketball court it is all one way business, as it was again on Saturday as the US opened the Olympic tournament with 119-62 thrashing. Carmelo Anthony is its leader, but other than he and Durant, this group is entirely made up of new Olympians.
“My goal is to lead this team to a gold medal and enjoy the process and enjoy the journey”, Anthony said. We can’t come out here and say, ‘Oh, we’re the United States and we’re supposed to win, ‘ or ‘We have this person and that person and we’re supposed to win.’ We have to be locked in every game.
DeMarcus Cousins added 17 points and Paul George 15 for the US, which is a heavy favorite to win a third straight gold and won’t change any opinions after this performance.
The Americans have won 69 straight games, and improved to 81-1 under coach Mike Krzyzewski, who revived the USA program and plans to step down following these games.
In an interview after one of their practices in preparation for 2016 Rio Olympics, Anthony said, “It really hasn’t sunk in yet about the fact that I’m playing in four Olympics and have an opportunity to win three gold medals”. “It’s cool to have a fraternity of guys who have won a gold medal”. This year’s Olympic team is proving to be nothing short of incredible, and will have the opportunity to make the case of being the best ever perhaps. “When I saw my teammates get excited for me, that kept me going”.
China is placed in Group A, the “Death Group”, along with US, 2015 FIBA Oceania champion Australia, 2015 FIBA Americas champion Venezuela, France and Serbia, two teams through Olympic qualifiers.
“We play two games against teams that we’ve beaten, but they’ll be a little bit different, in China and Venezuela”.
Anthony, who is likely to finish this event as the USA’s all-time leading Olympic scorer, had nine points and seven rebounds.
It was the 18th consecutive win for Team USA in Olympics competitions and the 69th overall in worldwide games in 10 years, as per the Los Angeles Times. The AP reported Anthony tied LeBron James, who chose to skip these Games, and David Robinson by playing in his 24th game in the Olympics.
Kevin Duran led the team in minutes played with 22 and points scored with 25 points to go along with six assists.
Venezuela, which doesn’t have an National Basketball Association player on its roster, didn’t figure to be a threat but the FIBA Americas champion wasn’t intimidated by the US roster of household names and with their fans doing all they could to push the heavy underdogs, they outworked the Americans in the first quarter, which ended with the USA committing six turnovers. They stood near the basket and grabbed errant shots, easily putting them back for layups.
High-flying DeMar DeRozan provided a spectacle for the fans on hand with two monster dunks.
An upset victory over the US would have done nothing to improve conditions in Venezuela, where food and medicine are running scarce and annual inflation is in triple digits, but it certainly would have lifted the nation’s spirits.
Anthony stayed on a cruise ship in his first Olympics, when they finished third in 2004 in Athens.
Despite the fact that mainstays such as LeBron James and Chris Paul passed on the Olympics this time, coach Mike Krzyzewski said this squad has bonded as much as any of the three USA teams he has led to the Olympics.
“What’s done is done”. They also were the product of significant playing time.
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However, at a packed news conference on Thursday, Team USA players and coaching staff did their best to convince hundreds of media that danger lurked everywhere up and down the draw.
