Team USA went 5-0 in the group stages of the Rio Summer Olympics, but the last three victories have been anything but easy.
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Klay Thompson scored 30 points in the win against Team France, which was especially refreshing, considering how badly he had struggled on offense during these Olympics.
Through five games, Kevin Durant leads the gold medal favorite in scoring, averaging 16.8 points.
Durant: We’re going to have to grind it out.
It was the USA’s 50th consecutive victory in a major global FIBA event and 22nd consecutive Olympic victory.
But to raise the spirit of their coach, Mike Krzyzewski, and the whole team for that matter, Team USA guard Klay Thompson, who has been removed from the starting lineup of their previous games, but was restored against France, did a marvelous shooting of 15 percent from the floor and 18 percent on 3s through four games. Durant added 17 points. Venezuela kept it close much of the third quarter, but Australia’s dominating 28-13 final frame led to the decisive margin.
“There’s no letting up in this kind of a tournament”, Thompson said.
Give Collet this much, though: You have to believe that the French just got a major psychological boost for a potential semifinals rematch after they hung in as well as they did with Parker spectating. “We’re lucky to have him on our team”. The Serbs missed an open buzzer-beating game-tying three, and the US hung on to a 94-91 win. “We’ve got to figure out how we can be better”. Grouped on the same side of the bracket as the USA, they’ll see this same team in the semis if both teams win in the quarters. A vulnerability has been exposed compared to other big tournaments.
And of course, there’s Klay Thompson, who had been terrible shooting coming in, got warmed up, and the splash was on.
Team USA will now enter the knockout portion of the Olympic schedule, which starts Wednesday.
You know how Kevin Durant would dribble away the clock in Oklahoma City and everyone blamed Russell Westbrook, or Scott Brooks, or Billy Donovan?
“They read each other so well”, Paul George said. Argentina has the experience to perhaps be the next test.
Facts can be valid excuses.
Ultimately, there are two scenarios at play here. However, if they face a team that gets red hot from the outside, they could get bit.
More than a tinge of angst surrounds the US, but the rest of the field still considers the Americans the favorite to win gold. The Americans don’t know who they’ll be playing yet in the Quarterfinals, but it won’t be a team to the level of Venezuela or China. The only exceptions: Lithuania in 2012 pool play, Spain in the 2012 gold-medal game and this week’s scares against Serbia and France. But it sure looked like the US simply didn’t have the defensive cohesion to keep Huertel (and de Colo) contained, which is an issue for Coach K, because he needs Kyrie Irving on the floor to break down defenses on the offensive end. That’s only slightly comforting for the USA, since only four members of the team have ever won an National Basketball Association championship, and one of them (Harrison Barnes) does not play.
“They’re a lot like Serbia in that they can really make you look silly on defense”. Like the Serbians, Les Bleus were able to score all too easily against the suspect U.S. defence, shooting 56 percent from the floor and also nudging the rebound count 35-29. They were expected to blow through pool play and breeze through to the finals, where they would likely encounter a hard Spanish team with a size advantage – Spain being the only team seen as having a shot to take down the U.S. But pool play has shown otherwise.
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“It was ideal”, Durant said. “It’s Game 7s from now on”.
