They along with Miroslav Raduljica will have to be at their very best come Sunday or it’ll be a silver medal for their troubles at Rio 2016.
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Anthony and the Americans will be playing for their third in a row today when they face Serbia, a team of heroes back home no matter what the scoreboard says after 40 minutes.
Track stars add to USA medal total: Allyson Felix and LaShawn Merritt are two savvy track stars who’ve been around long enough to know that not everything always goes to plan.
Their coach won’t let them. I know just two ways: you either play basketball or you play basketball to win.
Taurasi and the Americans played almost flawless basketball in Rio, and were never challenged. “My answer is B”.
In Rio, the Americans won all eight games by an average of more than 37 points. When the 26-year-old shooting guard from Binissalem canned a three-pointer with 2:04 remaining in the opener, Spain led 17-14. This team relies heavily on isolation offense and when those shots aren’t falling, it’s been tough for the U.S.to find scoring. In yet another rout, the USA dismantled Spain 101-72 on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro. The USA failed to cover the spread as a 13.5-point favorite, but it marked the second straight game that the team was able to hold its opponent to under 80 points after allowing 92 points per game in its previous three contests.
By the second quarter the Americans were wearing the Spanish down with breakneck pace and a roster of talent so deep that reigning WNBA Most Valuable Player holder Elena Della Donne (10 points on Saturday) came off the bench and two-time victor Candace Parker didn’t even make the team. “I learned a lot on the court, off the court and just having fun with them”.
The United States men’s basketball team has won 24 straight games in the Summer Olympics, but the team is just 1-3 against the spread over its last four games. It should be noted that the U.S. did not play in 1972 because they boycotted the games held in Moscow, Soviet Union. “We need one more game to keep it up and we’ll be fine”.
Djordjevic played for Yugoslavia back when Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc and teammates were a basketball power, too big, strong and savvy for the college players the Americans were sending. Yugoslavia beat the US – coached by Mike Krzyzewski – in the semifinals of the 1990 world basketball championship, the last major tournament for the Americans before NBA players arrived with the Dream Team in 1992.
That ushered in an era of American dominance that seemed to be returning. The Americans rolled into Rio de Janeiro unbeaten in 10 years, such an overwhelming favorite that Djordjevic predicted early in the tournament that it would be a “long way to go” before somebody beat the Americans.
Lang Ping captured an Olympic title with the 1984 Chinese national team in Los Angeles then later spent a four-year stint coaching the Americans.
While Serbia will be making their first appearance in the gold medal game, they bring a deep pedigree to the final. But thank goodness we’ve had it where at least one of them have had an outstanding night.
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And coach Mike Krzyzewski said: “Offensively we haven’t had a game yet where all the guys get hot”.
