Team USA is dominating the medal count at the 2016 Rio Olympics, with a whopping 77 total and 27 gold medals as of Tuesday morning.
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The USA finishes group play 5-0 and on top of Group A. They will face the fourth place team in Group B – which likely will be one of Spain, Croatia, or Brazil – on Wednesday. So it’d definitely be ideal if they could show the same form they did against Team USA. There can’t be anything better in the game of basketball then when you get an assist. It may have taken a game or three for that reality to sink in, but they have officially reached the point of reconciliation.
He hit five 3-pointers in the third quarter alone Sunday, the last making the lead seem safe at 78-62.
From there U.S. will play the victor of Spain and France and should they win that game as well, will then advance to the Gold Medal game against one of Australia/Croatia/Serbia/Lithuania. “Even them. We came close, and I think if you tighten up a few things here and there, that is a game we could have won”. Durant had 17 points.
United States’ DeAndre Jordan (6) hangs on the rim as he scores against France during a men’s basketball game at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016.
“I think we just let up a little bit (defensively) and you can’t let up in this kind of tournament”, said Thompson.
The Team USA assistant/Minnesota Timberwolves head coach and renowned defensive guru is trying his best to cajole greatness out of this group, barking as he always does on the sidelines while talking and teaching behind the scenes.
The U.S. will learn its quarterfinal opponent following Monday’s three Group B games. France have several NBA players and others like Heurtel and Nando de Colo that are outstanding and possess a lot of national team experience. Either way, that’s the bar the world set for them, but as long as they don’t lose, the results will be enough for them to quietly slide to the top of the medal podium.
“Obviously, everybody wants us to win by a lot of points, but it’s not how it’s going to go this time”, USA forward Kevin Durant said. In the fourth quarter, with the US nursing a four-point lead, the Cleveland Cavaliers star threw up a blind pass while falling forward into the hands of a leaping Durant, who buried a highlight-reel alley-oop.
Durant allowed Nicolas Batum and others to cut backdoor on him multiple times. “Teams are just loading up and watching us play one-on-one”.
U.S. dominance in the Olympics and FIBA World Cups starting with the 2008 Beijing Olympics has put discernible distance between the U.S. and the world’s next best teams.
France kicked off group play with a loss to an Australian team that, while still disappointing, looks much less bad given how well the Boomers continue to play.
The play of the game came from Kyrie Irving in the fourth quarter.
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Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala aren’t walking through that door, but Team USA might be able to put together a reasonable facsimile of what the Dubs are going to run out this year.
