France undoubtedly looked at the 2016 Rio Olympics men’s basketball competition and had to think that they could run through the field and compete to win a medal.
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“The Olympic village has always been something that we, as players, look forward to going to”. I haven’t spent my whole life coaching for the U.S. He’s in his early 30s, he’s basically played for the United States his whole career.
Team leader Carmelo Anthony, who makes his fourth Olympic appearance at these Games, said the beds were too short for basketball players on the ship, just like in the Olympic village where the other teams are staying. The level of competition so far gives us no help there. But during the first and second quarters of the game, all the players were given the chance to play.
Team USA beat China 119-62 in their Group A opener, led by 25 points from Kevin Durant.
That’s a potent mix offensively. The top-ranked team in the FIBA world rankings dominated both sides of the ball.
US too deep for ChinaDeMarcus Cousins scoring one of many easy baskets. The team is still talented enough to win a gold medal this year. “They want to do that”. Kyrie Irving got the start and played well when he was on the court. “Our target before the game was to try to get things better”. And that energy shows up on the defensive end of the floor.
“We regard it as a learning process when we face U.S.”, said China coach Gong Luming after Thursday’s practice session.
We should be getting used to this from Durant.
The American team is expecting nothing less than domination at the 2016 Rio Olympics. KD was the only player to log more than 20 minutes as all 12 players played at least 10 minutes.
“When we do sub, there’s no drop-off”, assistant coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Once we get stops, everybody on this team is a hell of a scorer, so it’s risky once we start to get stops and get out”. “Every country we play, especially at the very beginning of the game, they always come out with guns blazing”.
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Losses have been rare on Olympic hardwood for the U.S. who boast an all-time record of 130-5 in Games competition and will be expected to add to that win column as they chase a third straight gold. That’s something we’ve accepted as a team.
