RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Written in Portuguese on one wall above center court at Carioca Arena is the phrase “Um mundo novo”. Translation: A new world.
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Team USA opened up this game playing some of their best basketball at Rio.
Threatened by Australia in its previous game, the US men’s team survived a heart-racing final seconds to defeat disciplined and experienced Serbia 94-91 on Friday night and extend its winning streak in worldwide tournaments to 49 games.
No. 50 is no given, and suddenly, a gold medal that seemed a formality just a few days ago is anything but certain. Since the USA finished with an embarrassing bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Games, no team has come closer to beating them at the Olympics.
Unlike in their matchup with the Aussies, the Americans were in attack mode from the start.
Kyrie Irving led United States of America with 15 points and four assists, DeAndre Jordan added 13 points, while George, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant finished with 12 points each as the reigning gold medallists won their 21st consecutive Olympic contest.
“I’m really proud of how we played in the last 35 minutes, but still we are missing two minutes on Australia and five minutes against United States of America so I hope that we’re going to get better and understand that we have to start playing for 40 minutes”, – Serbia coach Aleksandar Djordjevic on Friday’s close call against USA.
“As good as we are, if we keep playing like this”, says George, “these games are going to keep getting tougher”. For this group, he can be a great rim protector for us, and an incredible ball-screen defense big guy, because of his mobility.
“Serbian mentality is we have to fight to the end no matter what the score”, said centre Miroslav Raduljica, who had 18 points for the Serbs. We should have held the lead and we just got sidetracked by stupid stuff, from the calls to the physicality, the extra plays.
“At times we get lazy because we”re so athletic and we got so many guys that can do multiple things that we don”t talk the way we”re supposed to,” guard Jimmy Butler said. “That’s the way it’s going to be out here”. China (1-3) last led 34-32 with 2:34 left on a three-point play by Wen Lu. With the offense struggling at points for the first time, the Americans turned up their defensive effort to dispatch Canada. Venezuela’s final Group A game will be vs. Australia on August 14 at 3 p.m. Serbia’s head coach, Aleksandar Djordjevic, stated that movement is a great equalizer to the athleticism of Team USA. But they couldn’t get into an offensive rhythm for the first 20 minutes against Canada. The American was one arrow away from the gold medal round in the men’s individual archery when he flat out missed and registered an eight in a shootout against South Korean Ku Bon-chan. Every single guy on their team, all 12 guys, understands what’s at stake for them and they’re going out there and showing it. …
The tireless Serbs began to wear down the Americans in the second half with their ball movement and with less than a minute to play trailed by three and were in position to pull off the biggest upset of the tournament. For comparison’s sake, the recent 73-win Golden State Warriors posted a 48.7 FG%, a 41.6 3P% and a 1.91 AST/TOV. It’s not happening at the moment, either, but these guys are still unbeaten at 4-0 with a great shot to run the table to the gold medal.
Rowing: So far the rowing competition has not offered much delight for American fans at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. Historically a powerhouse in the sport, the USA has won at least two rowing medals in each Olympics since the 1980 Moscow Games, which the US boycotted.
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If the US stays in its current malaise, it may be in for an even bigger fright in the knockout rounds.
