The next preliminary round game happens on August 14 versus France at 1:15 P.M. EDT. That improves them to 4-0 and the US clinched the top spot of Group A. Fresh off a scare against a strong Australian side on Wednesday, Team USA seemed to have learned their lesson.
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For the rest of this tournament, no one will lie down for Team USA.
Team USA and DeMar DeRozan remained undefeated at 4-0 with a 94-91 victory over a game Serbia team and Venezuela fell to 1-3 with a 96-56 loss to France at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil today (Aug. 12). Only 5 of the 12 teams have even averaged over 80 points per game, which really contextualizes how potent this offensive attack has been for Team USA.
The bad? France was without Tony Parker, who sat with a “toe injury” as France prepared to focus on medal round play.
As he has done so often throughout global play, Kevin Durant got the scoring started, sinking all three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt from the corner on the American’s first offensive possession.
“I’m really proud of how we played in the last 35 minutes, but still we are missing two minutes on Australia and five minutes against U.S. so I hope that we’re going to get better and understand that we have to start playing for 40 minutes”, – Serbia coach Aleksandar Djordjevic on Friday’s close call against USA. “Once you move the ball, they are always chasing someone, so this is the thing”. But they haven’t been beaten yet. Plus, Team USA needs Jordan on te floor for his defense. So good on defense against China and Venezuela, the Americans have been exposed by better opposition.
Paul George and the United States flirted with disaster.
Australia tested Team USA, and they may have forced the Americans to take a hard look at their offense.
The Sacramento star might as well have bought a ticket and sat in the stands at Carioca Arena 1 for the past two games. On Friday, Carmelo Anthony and company are in for a tough contest when they take on Serbia at 6:00 a.m US EST. [Here] you’re constantly moving from side to side and it’s like they don’t get exhausted. This remains their biggest threat in medal round play. She now has 18 threes in the Olympics, breaking her own team record of 15 set in 2012.
You know how Kevin Durant would dribble away the clock in Oklahoma City and everyone blamed Russell Westbrook, or Scott Brooks, or Billy Donovan? The USA was back and this game was all but over, right? Smaller defenders are attacking his 6-foot-11 dribble and it’s giving him problems.
With the offense struggling at points Friday for the first time, the Americans turned up their defensive effort to dispatch Canada.
Rudy Gobert bounced back from what’s been a weak performance in Rio. Only four of those wins were by five or fewer points.
Serbia jumped out to a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter, but China narrowed that deficit to six at halftime (40-34). The way this [international] game is played. It may not be dominant, but it’ll be good enough.
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France also booked a spot in the quarterfinals but must pull off an upset of the US on Sunday to have any hope of entering the kinder bracket. They all play against the Spurs.
