They are still the favorites to win the gold medal in Rio. If Team USA plays to the level they’re capable of, no one will touch them in these final three games.
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“It’s been rising for a while”, said Australian assistant coach Luc Longley, who played on three Olympic teams and won three championships with the Chicago Bulls. They’re 8-0 against Argentina, whom they’ll face at 5:45 p.m. ET Wednesday, since losing to them in the 2004 Olympics.
That’s what Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight.com set to find out.
From 1936 through the first five games of this year’s Games, there have been 55 times when a foreign player scored 20 or more points in an Olympic game versus the American men’s team. It is unbelievable when you think that this roster included Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Stephon Marbury and Amar’e Stoudemire, but for some reason, the team just couldn’t gel as a unit. He’s second on Serbia in scoring averaging 13.4 points (49% from the field, 46% from three), 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in a team high 26.2 minutes per game.
The U.S. looked sharp through two games, routing both China and Venezuela by 57 and 44 points, respectively. The Americans then end the first quarter with an 11-4 run in the last two-and-a-half minutes led by the forwards DeMar DeRozan and Paul George who scored all eleven points for Team USA. Again, while this isn’t the dream squad we wanted in Brazil, there are still scoring champions and NBA Finals champions on the roster, and this team shouldn’t lose to a draw that sees several nations at a crossroads. This Olympics provides a potential springboard for every Team USA player. Team USA big man DeMarcus Cousins and Klay Thompson scored the first three points of the game, off a dunk and a free throw. However, Australia, seeking its first Olympic medal with a program aided by players developing their games on college teams in the US, is focused on ending America’s run.
The outcome of these three losses, combined with the 2002 team’s very bad sixth-place showing in the FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis, was that USA Basketball went into an overhaul.
With a roster full of National Basketball Association players, perhaps it’s no surprise that Team USA is showing similar tendencies, especially during the last three games, all decided by 10 or fewer.
After back-to-back three-pointers from Klay Thompson gives Team USA another double-digit lead above ten points for the first time in the game at 65-52. “Teams are just loading up and watching us play one-on-one”.
“We’re not intimidated”, Ingles said following the teams’ matchup in the preliminary round.
Cousins and Green even lay out for saves in the short clip above, which might make USA basketball fans a little uneasy with a gold medal potentially on the line in the coming week.
USA Basketball didn’t send its best squad to the Rio Olympics this summer, and it’s starting to show. Team USA beat Argentina by 37 points in an exhibition on July 22.
Even more worrisome: it’s not like the team is being plagued by one weakness. He said the time spent together helped the Aussies better appreciate what it means to play for their homeland. “You can’t let up against an explosive team like France”. “Delly’s still young, we’ve still got a pretty young group – apart from David”, the forward said, referring to 36-year-old center David Andersen.
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“We got complacent on defence, and teams like this that move a lot off the ball, you can’t get complacent”, Thompson said of France.
