The men’s basketball tournament at the 2016 Rio Olympics will start in a couple of days and the United States National Team composed of NBA stars is.
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Spain, Lithuania, France and Serbia are among the teams that will challenge the USA squad, which is laden with All-Stars, but not the crème de la crème.
Team USA stalwart Carmelo Anthony complained of feeling isolated when they last stayed on a cruise ship in 2004.
“Rio probably has the biggest array of problems or potential problems”, Costas said (quoted in USA Today). They got their first test at the 2006 World Championship in Japan and lost a semi-final to Greece.
Some players spoke to VOA during their last practice in the U.S. Some of them spoke to VOA about how they have mentally prepared themselves for the competition.
But Carmelo Anthony, a 32-year-old New York Knicks forward whose Olympic debut ended with that loss to Argentina, said the team will take nothing for granted.
“So we’re not as good as we’re going to be, and that’s kind of the way it’s been for us at the Olympics”, Auriemma said. “We have been preparing the way we always do, focusing on every single game individually, and we will be competitive”.
The team only captured the bronze medal that year, despite being a heavy favorite to win.
“I feel great about going”.
Former LSU women’s basketball standouts Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles play for the US Olympic Team.
That number looks short to me now and the 17/20 with Betway for Team GB to win more than 53 medals looks like a steal.
The four-hour time difference to Rio means that those wishing to see if Brazil can top Danny Boyle’s masterful London 2012 opening ceremony will need to hang on until midnight on Friday.
Again, that’s not to say fans should expect the U.S.to be upset by France, but the veteran experience and depth of Les Bleus could make that an interesting game. “If we can do it against each other, we can do it against anyone in the world”. The women’s team will play their first game on Sunday, against Senegal. Already we have heard reports about polluted waterways, of the city trying to hide its poor neighborhoods from view, of unpaid local police and firefighters, and the growing concern about the mosquito-borne and sexually transmitted Zika virus. “Majority take care of their business appropriately”. They’re on a ship again, along with the US women’s team, in part because of a shortage of hotel space compared to recent hosts Beijing and London, and Anthony doesn’t see why it’s such a big deal. It’s just like we would be staying in a hotel. History is made as the 2016 Olympic Team includes its first two athletes born in the 2000s century: Jha, who was born June 19, 2000, and gymnast Laurie Hernandez, born June 9, 2000. “Anything I get, I’m looking at it like, ‘Wow, Olympic national team.’ That’s insane just to look at it and put it on and be like, ‘I’m DeAndre and I’m representing our country along with 11 other great guys'”. Griner is especially excited about the staying with her teammates on a floating hotel.
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“It’s been great. The hospitality here has been fantastic”, Jordan said.
