by KingOfTheB
Posted 2 years ago
Maybe its time for the US Olympic Mens Basketball team to panic. The United States men’s basketball team lost its Olympic opener here on Sunday, dropping a back-and-forth contest to a very good France team, 83-76, for its first Olympic loss since 2004. That doesn’t eliminate the Americans from gold medal contention but it is a continuation for troubling signs the team showed before the Olympics started.
The United States Mens Basketball team enters the rescheduled 2020 Olympics in an effort to win the 16th gold medal over the past 19 Olympic games in the sports, however this team has struggled to deal with Covid related roster turnover, and many NBA players wanting to avoid a diseased Tokyo.
Jrue Holiday, fresh off a trans-Pacific flight after helping Milwaukee win the NBA title last week, led the Americans with 18 points. Star Kevin Durant, however, shot the ball poorly (4 of 12) and dealt with foul trouble (eventually fouling out). He finished with just 10 points. If America is going to rebound, they need better.
The Americans lost two exhibition games in their preparation for the Olympics and it’s clear this roster isn’t capable of just overwhelming good teams that these days are loaded with their own NBA talent. This isn’t 1992 anymore. Or even 2008. On either side of the court.
The U.S. will need huge efforts going forward from Durant and Damian Lillard, who also shot poorly, hitting just three of his 10 shots. The Americans went just 10 of 32 from 3-point range, including missing three wide-open shots on a critical late fourth-quarter possession that essentially sealed the game.
The U.S. will play the Republic of Iran on Wednesday.
Topic: Sports
Tags: 2020 Olympics US Basketball Olympics Mens Basketball