So this is how it’s going to be.
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The U.S. team that many considered a gold medal lock wouldn’t even win its group outright with a loss Sunday, either tying France or sharing first with the French and Australia at 4-1.
According to the Washington Post: “The rest of the world isn’t awestruck, not by this team”.
With that being said, listed below are some of the reactions pertaining to yesterday’s USA-Serbia matchup that the A Royal Pain team was able to gather up from social media.
And the competition is organised, rigid and full of offensive ingenuity. That’s why Australia scared the Americans into humility before the USA prevailed 98-88 on Wednesday. Serbia eventually made it a one possession game and even outscored the US 29-22 in the fourth quarter.
Reality has set in for the players. George says that the last two games, especially the one against Serbia, was a wake-up call, saying “t’s great that we’re getting challenged”, George said. Even FIBA Americas champion Venezuela who had no active National Basketball Association players took them to a 18-18 standoff in the first quarter before the Americans pulled away. Serbia ran its offense more efficiently and successfully.
Maya Moore scored 12 points and the USA clinched the top seed in the group with an 81-51 win over Canada.
Mills, who is the point guard of San Antonio Spurs, averaged 20.5 points, 2.0 assists and 2.3 rebounds. The only other player in double figures for Serbia was Stefan Markovic, who scored 12 points while shooting 4 of 6 from the field. Australia exposed the defensive problems, sharing the ball and moving without it, punishing the Americans for their every mistake. Serbia continued the trend by shooting 52 percent. Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets went for a game-high 25 points.
Sloppy play and fouls slowed the United States in the waning minutes of the first quarter and carried over into the second.
“We got a little complacent and got a little relaxed early on”, Paul George told NBC Sports. We need our best pros playing well. These global guys really know how to move and really know how to cut. If they don’t, then this could be another close one. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments â either by the same reader or different readers.
But despite some uneven play there was no panic in the USA camp as players treated the near upsets as learning experiences ahead of the knockout phase of the 12-team tournament. The Yanks scored the first nine points, stretched to lead to as high as 18 and appeared to be assembling the ideal response to the Australia scare, with no shortage of their own ball-sharing on top of the expected defensive focus to put the Serbs in a quick 27-9 hole. DeMarcus Cousins spun in the open court and soared for a dunk. The three-time gold medalist and partner April Ross advanced to the quarterfinals of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament in a midnight match, dispatching Italy 21-10, 21-16 in just 35 minutes. DeAndre Jordan, also coming off the bench, made an early impact in the paint. It seemed like a blowout was in the works, like the Americans were about to show that the Australia game was an aberration. We’re relying on our natural talent so much. The offense wasn’t fluid, either.
Kyrie Irving scored 15 points and Durant and Carmelo Anthony had 12 apiece for the US team, which arrived in Brazil being lauded as another American super squad and gold-medal lock. Serbian player Bogdan Bogdanovic had possession of the ball with 0.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter. “We allowed them to get confident, they came back. It just comes down to a trust factor, not letting one guy have that feeling that he has to do it alone”.
Krzyzewski, though, insists there is more global balance in hoops.
For the second straight game, the USA men’s basketball was tested to the final minute.
After Friday’s narrow win over Serbia, the unshakable confidence they had expressed after the win over Australia was unquestionably shaken, despite their protestations to the contrary.
France rosters one of the best starting lineups in Rio with Tony Parker, Nic Batum, Nando de Colo, Boris Diaw and Rudy Gobert. “Our guys are playing as a team; they just haven’t had the experience of playing together that long”. They weren’t going to put their head down, and they fought.
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The team that usually wins big is barely winning. It’s time for Team USA to clean things up.
