At least Klay Thompson, who had been a disastrous 4-for-26 in the Olympics, finally broke loose with a 30-point game on 9-for-16 shooting.
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“That game was the best part of my life because we proved to the whole world that it was possible to beat them”, the 58-year-old Schmidt said. The U.S. men’s team also made 10 3-pointers, seven of which came from Thompson. That’s only slightly comforting for the US, since only four members of the team have ever won an National Basketball Association championship, and one of them (Harrison Barnes) does not play. Durant added 17 points. The U.S. has had a tough time containing the opposition’s best playmakers for three consecutive games now, and letting them feast on the halfhearted defense of Melo, Irving, and Boogie Cousins is playing with fire. Even with all of the talent on Team USA, opposing teams have been keeping the games close as they try to pull off the improbable upset.
“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. “We wanted to strive for greatness, and we obviously had three close games in a row (now)…but a win is a win”.
Their opponents couldn’t be determined until the completion of play Monday in the log-jammed Group B, where all six teams are still alive.
Like so many other teams, China came in to their final Group B contest looking for a first-ever win over the US, having lost all previous six Olympic encounters where they were outscored by an average of 34.7 points.
“We’ve just got to worry about us and focus on playing U.S. basketball, playing the right way”, Jordan said. “We had two good chances, not to get a medal, but a chance to win the Olympics”.
And yet, for all of the positive strides the United States made in the third quarter, a few lazy possessions in the fourth quarter allowed France to cut the deficit to four and make Coach K’s side sweat out another win.
Three wins from gold, and still no reason to think it will be easy for the US men’s basketball team.
Down 16 late in the third quarter, playing “loose” and “free” to use Krzyzewski’s words and undoubtedly inspired by the troubles Australia and Serbia caused the heavy favorites, France uncorked a rally that clinched yet another uncomfortable postgame round of what’s-wrong probing from the assembled before the medal round. But we’ve seen precious little progress from the Americans over these past three games, starting with the Australia scare. “We respect them but we step on the court and you never know (what will happen)”, Batum said.
It turns out that Parker sustained a toe injury in France’s victory Friday night over Venezuela, according to a tweet from France’s official team account that wasn’t issued until the start of the second half.
Luckily for the Americans, this time they could count on offense from Thompson to get them through.
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The way things are going, the Americans will take all the help they can get.
