“You figure anybody on this team can go off; that’s what they do all year“, said French captain Boris Diaw, the Jazz’s newly acquired forward. The few times in his life when he’s not shooting well he always plays defense well. Also while Argentina is potent offensively, their personnel might be the least capable of any of these teams when it comes to defending Team USA.
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The U.S. remains the most talented team in Rio, but they have a lot of work to do before the quarterfinals begin on Wednesday. The U.S. will face the fourth-place finisher from Group B which won’t be decided until the preliminary round is complete on August 15.
Australia just might win it all.
One of Kyrie Irving’s 12 assists, which tied a Team USA single-game record, was particularly impressive.
In other Kings-related Olympics news, Bogdan Bogdanovic has had a pretty good tournament so far, but has missed two huge three pointers for Serbia, one against France that would have won the game and one against U.S. that would have sent it into Overtime. Team USA also got 17 points from Kevin Durant, who went 6-for-6 from the floor.
In some hoop circles, Australia’s performance has been a surprise.
“They play aggressive”, said USA forward DeMar DeRozan.
It’s probably unreasonable to expect them function like a true team after essentially a month together.
Global basketball observers have seen this Australian ascension coming. And Argentina won both competitions by defeating the U.S. “It also proves we are close to Serbia and Australia, who also lost to the United States by points”, Lauvergne said. “I think that’s the biggest thing that really separates us from them”. Both teams feature young talent primed to step into the spotlight in future worldwide tournaments, but seemingly not quite ready to take the reins in 2016.
Three-time Olympian Joe Ingles, who has spent the past two seasons with the Jazz, sees bright days ahead for Australia.
United States dominance in the Olympics and FIBA World Cups starting with the 2008 Beijing Olympics has put discernible distance between the USA and the world’s next best teams.
Everyone is going to have to divide up their touches in some way, but it’s important Durant knows when Thompson is hot. “But the rest of us are all 28 and under”. “You can’t play it any better than we played it in the first half”.
And let’s not even start with the stuff about all the various studs back home who, for whatever reason, either couldn’t be here or chose not to.
What they do know – even before group play is completed – is that they’re going to have to play better than they have for the past week. He said people who don’t necessarily root for him have shown they appreciate him. However, we’ve yet to see much of a difference in the team’s play after these close calls. “I think everyone found that individually and as a team as well”. Gaze has been impressed with this Australian group’s resolve and its ability to crystallize in a short period.
The Aussies came up short again eight years later in Atlanta, losing to Lithuania, which beat them again at Sydney.
With an overall record of 63-3, Olympic losses are rare for the US, but Japan can claim one of them, although it occurred 40 years ago at the 1976 Montreal Games. “Teams are just loading up and watching us play one-on-one”. “We’re not scared of anyone”.
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While there have been frustrations about sending opponents to the line, they’re having no problem getting there themselves (an Olympics high of 34 free throw attempts per game).
