These two teams without a doubt, have the strongest rosters in the Olympics, a matchup most people saw coming in the gold medal game. Now again, the teams are adversaries in the Rio Final Four.
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US forward Carmelo Anthony, who’s inching closer to a country-record third gold medal, recognized Spain’s struggles early but still considers the rival a formidable opponent. Kevin Durant added 14 points and Kyrie Irving chipped in with 13. “When we focus in and we kind of dedicate ourselves to playing the right way, it’s a scary sight out there”.
Team USA played solid defense but wasn’t entirely able to capitalize on that, getting just three points off turnovers in the first half, but holding a dominating 17-6 advantage on second-chance points.
“They congratulated me and I’m very proud of their words”, Ginobili said. It would be a dream for us to beat them. Starting with the “Dream Team” in 1992, the United States have decimated their rivals, winning by an average margin of 31.8 per game from 1992-1998.
The U.S. will face the victor of the Australia-Serbia game in the gold medal match on Sunday. Though the idea behind Jerry Colangelo’s restructuring of the USA program was to make sure players had plenty of time to get to know each other before an Olympics, there are 10 newcomers here with only a few weeks of practice and play between them.
But that was pool play.
China trails the USA with 58 medals and Great Britain is in third place with 56.
Spain was making a push to get back in the game when Kevin Durant hit a three with under two minutes remaining in the quarter. Spain ended the game on a 7-0 run, but a Sergio Rodriguez layup just before time expired was the last attempt of the comeback. “They showed some weaknesses that we have and we tried to get better”. With Marc Gasol deciding to skip Rio Games due to injury, Gasol had to move to the center spot. The final score is a bit deceptive, as the Americans led comfortably for most of the fourth quarter before allowing Spain to notch meaningless points in the final minute.
It’s possible, however, Krzyzewski reinserts Cousins in the starting lineup against Spain to try and get Gasol and Mirotic in early foul trouble and take away the team’s two best scorers.
“He is not well, I can not say for sure that he is going to play”, Scariolo said, according to a Eurohoops translation. “We continue with his treatments and the truth is that we needed him right now”, Scariolo said. Win or lose though, it’s time to rethink how US basketball operates. “It just took a while, especially on that stage, for me to be comfortable in that role”.
“I told myself before I left my room, I’m at my best if I don’t care if we win or lose”, Durant said.
Gasol isn’t the only worry.
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Second-ranked Spain made a poor start to the tournament with losses to Brazil and Croatia before shifting into top gear with four straight wins, including a 92-67 victory over old foes France Wednesday to ease into the last four. If LeBron James comes back in 2020 and is joined by Durant, Paul George, Steph Curry, and Karl-Anthony Towns, one suspects there won’t be too many-if any-close games.
