“I can not explain how we won with such a big margin after suffering so much in the quarter-finals”, said Spain’s Laura Quevedo.
Advertisement
Team USA beat Team Spain 82-76 in a close game to advance to their 3rd straight gold medal match in Olympic play.
Klay Thompson scored 22 for the Americans, who play Serbia on Sunday for their third consecutive Olympic title.
“When the stakes are the highest is when we all play the best and there won’t be any higher than on Sunday”, said USA guard Klay Thompson. This is the best competition we’ve faced, but it’s obvious that we haven’t played quite as well as we’d have liked to play, either.
From his free agency debacle in the summer of 2015 (when he chose Dallas before doubling back amid rumors that he was done playing with Chris Paul) to the Blake Griffin controversy last season (when the Clippers forward missed five weeks with a broken hand after punching the team’s former assistant equipment manager that was a close friend of them both) and the unpleasant reality that he has neither an National Basketball Association title nor an All-Star berth to his name, this has been a tough and drama-filled stretch for Jordan.
It was the kind of defense the Americans thought they could play but hadn’t much in the tournament. In the other semi-final, Spain eased past Serbia 68-54, and, while delighted to be assured of their first women’s Olympic basketball medal, they were sanguine about their chances to defeat what they consider a “dream team”.
There’s no question that Serbia was brilliant Friday, but it came one game too soon. “We really want to accomplish this”. “It would be a great thing for us”. It began the knockout round Tuesday with a game against Japan, a team it was 1-1 against in all past Olympic play.
“It should be fun”, Durant said. That’s our main goal since we got together is to win the gold. We’ve had great players stay home before, so I don’t look at it that way. Give me Spain to get the bronze medal.
“We have big hearts”. We haven’t had it here and we didn’t have it at the other two Olympics in Beijing or London. But the Americans can certainly do better in the future if they want to create their own golden generation. “We’re going to have to beat the best”. “Spain is a powerhouse”, said Aussie guard Matthew Dellavedova. “We’ll just be prepared when it comes”. “I’m not sure many teams can do that”, said Spanish center Pau Gasol, who scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
But it all fell apart against a determined Serbia, who have already sent out an ominous warning to two-time defending gold medallists USA. “We are going to play our game and we will see if it’s enough for a win”.
The reality is that it would take a catastrophe to deny the USA the gold, whether Bird suits up or not.
“Two years ago, we were not mentally ready”. Starting guard Ricky Rubio of the Minnesotta Timberwolves was held scoreless, finishing the game on 0-for-4 shooting in fourteen minutes of action.
United States guard Paul George expects another physical matchup just as their meeting last week became.
“That’s just the way I felt”, Gasol said.
Shell wake up tomorrow morning and tell us how she feels and well go with that, he said. “We got to be able to match their physicality, I think that’s going to be important, and not allow that to get us out of our game”.
Advertisement
The U.S. will have to be a lot sharper itself against Serbia. “It’s time to rewrite the legacy of Serbia basketball…”
