The team that usually wins big is barely winning. But to put this loss in perspective, the 1972 United States team had won two of its Olympic games by at least 65 points, had just beaten Italy 68-38 and the closest margin of victory was a 13-point win over Brazil. They are in for a rude awakening if they think it’s going to be easier from here on out. “We just have to trust ourselves on both sides of the ball, and if we do that and play hard, I don’t think we’ll lose”.
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Great. Dominant. Those are the standards the Americans have set.
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“Obviously everybody wants us to win by a lot of points, but it’s not how it’s gonna go this time”, Team USA star forward Kevin Durant conceded Sunday after Tony Parker-less France refused to cave and fell just shy of momentous upset in a 100-97 escape for the Yanks in these teams’ Group A finale.
France, playing without its injured top player Tony Parker, gave the US about all it could handle, staging a 28-point fourth quarter to challenge the defending gold medalists down to the final buzzer. In fact, the Americans could even end up finishing third in Group A.
France’s defeat to Australia now seems like a long time ago.
The U.S. beat Australia 98-88 on Wednesday and Serbia 94-91 on Friday, highlighting its vulnerability and worldwide experience in this competition. “They’re still unbeaten, so we can’t say that they’re struggling”.
The USA crushed Argentina 111-74 in an exhibition game in Las Vegas back in July, however, expect Wednesday’s game to be closer. “Hopefully these will be the ones that help prepare us later on for the style of this tournament”. Instead, they began draining it Saturday and planned to transfer almost 1 million gallons of clear water from a nearby practice pool in time for the start of synchronized swimming. United States of America will play the fourth-place finisher from Group B on August 17. Durant and Carmelo Anthony are the only two Americans with Olympic experience, and there are six players on the roster who have never played in a major worldwide FIBA competition.
“Today they did not play very well and still won so they are still the favourites”, said 7-foot, 1-inch (2.16) French centre Rudy Gobert, also known as the “Stifle Tower”. That has always been the case, but now those other teams are also stacked with National Basketball Association players and are just getting better. This group is learning on the fly, and they’re not giving themselves high marks.
Huertel and Nando De Colo, in particular, got things going early on with the type of constant movement that’s given the US some trouble so far in the tournament. “There’s talent around this world and they’re showcasing it”. But a team like France has a familiarity this USA team can never attain. Team USA once again let a sizable lead slip as they led 78-62 late in the third period before things got tight late in the contest. “So that may be sometimes”.
Australia proved to be solid medal contenders as they overwhelmed Venezuela 81-56 to finish second in the group.
Nobody has done that in a decade, with the Americans seeking their 50th consecutive tournament victory Sunday.
United States of America and Lucy Davis (Stanford) get their Olympic opportunity, competition in the qualifier of the individual jumping and team jumping events. Or it is just their opponents improving and getting stronger?
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MORE: Should Team USA be anxious? Every time the Americans built a big lead, the fifth-ranked French chipped away. They all have offensive systems and players who can make them work. “We didn’t”, Diaw said. “Can’t play it any better than we played in the first half that was fun to watch”.
