Can team USA lose this gold in basketball?

[Pachinko_]

Currently there is no clear contender. Manu, Pau and Tony are past their peak, Croatia has no Kukoc or Petrovic, Serbia has no Divac or Peja. And yet somehow team USA had 3 tight games against Australia, Serbia and France.

Can it happen?

[Spens1]

depends how disinterested they are, they could very well lose it if they don't try hard enough but realistically no they probably won't because lets face it they have one of the best coaches in the world in coach K who would probably kill them if they didn't play near their best come the final.

[Pipp33]

Absolutely it can happen. The last 3 games show that if they are not firing, other teams will push them all the way. France only just lost and Parker didn't play. Australia pushed them all the way, but couldn't get their shots to fall in the final qtr.

They are the only team that are 10 deep, but the other teams play and understand FIBA basketball better. I'm hoping us Aussies get to the Gold medal match against them, but it will be a tough road in the next stages. We've played great up until now, but whole different scenario now with no second chances.

[bb22]

The Aussies took the star power/intimidation factor right out of their souls. No team is afraid of them anymore. In contrary, teams are straight up prepared to bully these pampered NBA stars into submission. As far as I'm concerned, the gold is lost unless they find a miracle chemistry pill before Wednesday.
Coach K said many times that he wants each player to be himself. Well guess what, they are being themselves. When you have have starting 5 of all scorers, it will be a one on one contest and lazy defense all game. They have to accept new roles, or lose.

[Pachinko_]

depends how disinterested they are, they could very well lose it if they don't try hard enough but realistically no they probably won't because lets face it they have one of the best coaches in the world in coach K who would probably kill them if they didn't play near their best come the final.

I know it sounds counter-intuitive but the fact that they are mildly disinterested might actually be a good thing. Imagine if all those big names had been waiting all year for the Olympics to dazzle the world with their performance... they'd be fighting over minutes, shots, passes, it would be mayhem. At least now they're all happy to take a back seat and be benched for long stretches.

[TheOUTLAW]

Anyone can lose in a single elimination tournament. But fact is, they haven't had a single game where more than one or two people were playing well. These guys flat out need to focus.

[bb22]

Anyone can lose in a single elimination tournament. But fact is, they haven't had a single game where more than one or two people were playing well. These guys flat out need to focus.

Ya, fact is, they only need two guys to play well (offensively) to put themselves in position to win.
Offensively, guys (especially the bigs) need to start sprinting down the court and getting into position early for easy buckets. The ball-handler should either attack that paint right away, or moving that ball. No more holding that ball on the wing and dribbling the clock down.
Defensively they need to do smart switches, not just switch off every screen, and bait the opposing team into mid-range shots. Ease up on the aggressive perimeter D and protect that paint! I can only imagine what Thibs is going through right now lol.

[LLJ]

They certainly can. They don't have the top talents in the NBA this time. Durant probably the only real A talent. Lots of B and C stars down the roster. They're still the most talented in the world but without a stack of A-level talents they are far more beatable.

[Pipp33]

A lot is being made of this US team not having its best talent to somehow underplay what other countries are doing. There is probably not 1 player in the Olympics playing for another country that would make the US team, so to say they a weak is just plain wrong. Are there better players available, yes, but they still have some great talent. Durant/Cousins/Anthony/Draymond/Irving/Thompson/Jordan are all All NBA team talent

And other countries have aging talent - Spain and France, and they are still competing, Bogut has just come back from injury and is playing brilliantly. Facts are, the US are not playing as well as a team and I believe some of these players just thought they needed to turn up and be presented with the Gold.

[bakesale]

I think they have too much of the same kind of player on the team. It could be made into a positive but right now it's not really clicking when you have demar, Butler, George, Durant, Melo. They are ALL wing players who are used to getting the ball and being told to operate. Now it's as though these guys in particular are in between 'being themselves' and trying their best to be selfless team players and it's just not working.

Secondly I think Irving and Cousins have been bad at defence. Irving can half get away with it because he has guys like Klay, Butler and George who can cover for him but with Cousins as the anchor to the defence it's a disaster. He gets so lost on pick and rolls. Mind you teams like Australia and Croatia are creating a lot of clever misdirection plays and Cousins falls for it every time. He doesn't seem to have the iq on defence to ever be an elite defender as an anchor. DJ is better at this but not amazing. He has the athleticism to recover quickly and block shots so that makes up for a lot of his misgivings but he's not as much an elite defender as people believe. But he's a whole lot better than Cousins on defence.

Lastly as most people already know they don't have enough playmakers. Their starting 5 are ALL scorers, every one of them are scorers first and foremost and that is dumb. I think you need to combine excellent role players with great scorers (like what the warriors do) and so I would start Lowry, Klay, Durant, Green and DJ.
Lowry is more of a proper leader/pg than Irving.
Green is a playmaker and elite defender.
DJ is a genuine defensive anchor on a team that doesn't need more scoring.

That's a proper basketball team right there. ie they all have well defined roles, which means they will have real direction on offence. They have the go to scorer, the spot up shooter, a couple of playmakers and a guy who can sneak in for alley oop dunks/clean up the misses. They can all play great defence too. Then you can bring in elite scorers like Irving and Melo who can act as 6th man type scorers, you can bring Cousins if you want to change things up a bit and have someone to dominate down low in the post. and those other wing guys like Butler, Paul George and Demar can really fit in as role players and slide into whatever is needed at any given time and be the glue guys. I think they play this formula and they destroy teams like they should.

Importantly I blame the coaches for not being able to figure this out.

[Lexluthor]

This team still has not lost a game yet . Moral victories is for losers and Suckers. If they some how win the gold .What does that say about the World not able to beat the B- team ?

[Pachinko_]

I hope they lose, for the sake of basketball. They're just **** to watch... half the time they start doing some sort of basic play, then give up halfway or they forget what they wanted to do, then they look at eachother for a couple of seconds and then somebody chucks a brick. And the brick goes in simply because that somebody is Klay or KD or Melo. It's just boring to watch and I hope it will not be rewarded. They are so much better than this crap.

Other teams are actually playing beautiful basketball that they've been working on for years as a team.

[Popovich]

Of-course that can be beaten and in fact not only that but can be outplayed. Still, let's be realistic and confess...its unlikely to happen.

Basketball is an American invention and the same country continues to be home of the finest and the best quality of that game. True particularly European teams are constantly in progress of shrinking the gap between difference in pure qualities regarding FIBA and NBA styles. In my opinion answer to the question why that is happening lays in possibility that NBA players touched the very peak, highest point maybe in terms of level and quality of this beautiful game From that Mont Everest's point of view its difficult to move higher and its natural to look down to others. Only thing is that I clearly see as a bad thing is sometimes showed ignorance by American fans. (for example in this thread one member almost provocatively mistakes and mention Croatia instead of Serbia, and NO Bojan and Bogdan Bogdanovic aren't the same persons) We Serbs like to joke saying our Bogdan is original one

For now I will just say that, in my modest opinion, Spain has the best team and the best chances to stop the Olympic "dream team".

That is why I'm thinking on some differences in basketball philosophy and styles between INT play and USA play-style. All this along side with praises of NBA and some critics I will mention in my next post comment when I return from nice morning coffee in the bar next to bookie shop with friend who just like me had time-zone caused sleepless Olympics night

[bb22]

Spain has turned into a beast these past 2 games! They were suffering from the stagnant offense and poor D the US is currently fighting with, in their first 2 but found a way to fix it. I still think their style of play is better for the Americans. Australia and Serbia are still the biggest threats imo. Maybe Croatia too. Not sure how they ended up first in group B

[jptremblay]

This team still has not lost a game yet . Moral victories is for losers and Suckers. If they some how win the gold .What does that say about the World not able to beat the B- team ?

So what say to you that a team like Serbia with less than 15 mill population can contest an USA team?
What says to you that a Spanish team that has less than 50 mill, where basketball isn't even the first Sport, had been fighting face to face vs USA last 2 olympics?
What about that France whom they are 5 times little than US can put them in trouble without one of they best players...while being a country where basketball is probably the 3-4 Sport.
And what about Australia, basketball probably is the third Sport there, and they're are playing without Simmons, and aren't traditionally a great team on the last years....
So man, you should probably concern that USA isn't winning games by 20-30 against decents teams...And that with a new dream team the last olympics, they had a lot of trouble to win Spain.
Usa should not only win the Gold, they should win it easily.

[Pachinko_]

And what about Australia, basketball probably is the third Sport there, and they're are playing without Simmons, and aren't traditionally a great team on the last years....

LOL are you serious? I'd be crying for joy if it was the 3rd sport, basketball in Australia is probably less popular than lawn bowls and horse races. I'd say it's maybe 10th or 11th, if that.

I was told back in the nineties it was somewhat popular (I'm talking maybe 5th or 6th behind football, cricket, rugby, the other football, and maybe tennis) but then they put it on pay TV and people completely abandoned it.

[UcanUwill]

I think Spain has a chance.

[Popovich]

Spain for the last decade marked European and FIBA basketball they developed their own recognizable style of play that very much differed from other European basketball national selections or to say styles like EX-YU school of basketball or slower but physically tougher and more offensively sterile old Soviet style, than one time special Italian play when Italian league was by far the best league in Europe, also Lithuanian move the ball and shoot the three tactic or special high pick&roll tactics implemented successfully by the Greeks (one time winners against USA team) etc..etc.
Spain introduced new very fast tempo running basketball with aggressive defense but with predominately offensive mindset.
Could be true that USA team does not have to gain any fear from Spain but I'll remind you that on the last Olympics USA roster was carefully picked and was designed to respond to at the time very strong Spain team. I just wanted to say that USA back than took Spain with special seriousness.

What I don't like about what NBA became is that in recent years it became more and more adjusted to become strictly more entertainment game. We can see this at that level that some almost start to call it a basketball circus. (I don't agree with that name). Shooters and stars in NBA became too protected by the rules. During the regular season you could not even touch Curry for example and not to hear referee whistle. Also lets stay on same example you need to leave space for shooter to land, so in order to be able to challenge a shot, defender must try to block the shot but with all costs at the same time looking to avoid any body contact. Also in NBA you cannot stay in your own lane more than 3 sec, rule which allow anyone to constantly moving through the paint and attacking the rim.Not sure do I like or not the no-touch-above the cylinder rule. I like NBA challenge and TV slow-mo reviews that is we need in FIBA too. FIBA is more like an old-school east coast american style of play. More physical (in terms of pushing banging bodies, masses in the paint, using big old C, more calculated and less ISO plays) Fundamentals are same for both sides but Americans are in fact years in front of Europe in level of hard training sessions and specially in Technics for the fast recovery. USA will still for the some time continues to have better athletes. Of course NBA is more fun to watch, because it is designed to be that way but the level of competitiveness and sometimes agility and passion are often bigger in Europe's FIBA. Anyhow bottom line is that NBA gives us is still the highest level best quality of basketball and it will stay like than, in my opinion, for the next 10 years for sure.

[bb22]

Spain for the last decade marked European and FIBA basketball they developed their own recognizable style of play that very much differed from other European basketball national selections or to say styles like EX-YU school of basketball or slower but physically tougher and more offensively sterile old Soviet style, than one time special Italian play when Italian league was by far the best league in Europe, also Lithuanian move the ball and shoot the three tactic or special high pick&roll tactics implemented successfully by the Greeks (one time winners against USA team) etc..etc.
Spain introduced new very fast tempo running basketball with aggressive defense but with predominately offensive mindset.
Could be true that USA team does not have to gain any fear from Spain but I'll remind you that on the last Olympics USA roster was carefully picked and was designed to respond to at the time very strong Spain team. I just wanted to say that USA back than took Spain with special seriousness.

What I don't like about what NBA became is that in recent years it became more and more adjusted to become strictly more entertainment game. We can see this at that level that some almost start to call it a basketball circus. (I don't agree with that name). Shooters and stars in NBA became too protected by the rules. During the regular season you could not even touch Curry for example and not to hear referee whistle. Also lets stay on same example you need to leave space for shooter to land, so in order to be able to challenge a shot, defender must try to block the shot but with all costs at the same time looking to avoid any body contact. Also in NBA you cannot stay in your own lane more than 3 sec, rule which allow anyone to constantly moving through the paint and attacking the rim.Not sure do I like or not the no-touch-above the cylinder rule. I like NBA challenge and TV slow-mo reviews that is we need in FIBA too. FIBA is more like an old-school east coast american style of play. More physical (in terms of pushing banging bodies, masses in the paint, using big old C, more calculated and less ISO plays) Fundamentals are same for both sides but Americans are in fact years in front of Europe in level of hard training sessions and specially in Technics for the fast recovery. USA will still for the some time continues to have better athletes. Of course NBA is more fun to watch, because it is designed to be that way but the level of competitiveness and sometimes agility and passion are often bigger in Europe's FIBA. Anyhow bottom line is that NBA gives us is still the highest level best quality of basketball and it will stay like than, in my opinion, for the next 10 years for sure.

I agree with your views. In the end, basketball is a form of entertainment. So catering the rules (a bit) to make it more fun to watch/play, and to get the most out of talent, should be the goal of both the NBA and FIBA. I have been to many euroleague/domestic league games across Europe, and while the passion on the court and in the stands is unrivaled, the quality of basketball can become very stale for long stretches. Whether that is because of the lack of talent, athleticism, strength training, or due to FIBA rules is up for discussion. 10 years from now the NBA and FIBA rules will be much more similar, and eventually it will grow into one global game. At least that's what the NBA wants.

[Lexluthor]

This team still has not lost a game yet . Moral victories is for losers and Suckers. If they some how win the gold .What does that say about the World not able to beat the B- team ?

So what say to you that a team like Serbia with less than 15 mill population can contest an USA team?
What says to you that a Spanish team that has less than 50 mill, where basketball isn't even the first Sport, had been fighting face to face vs USA last 2 olympics?


What about that France whom they are 5 times little than US can put them in trouble without one of they best players...while being a country where basketball is probably the 3-4 Sport.
And what about Australia, basketball probably is the third Sport there, and they're are playing without Simmons, and aren't traditionally a great team on the last years....
So man, you should probably concern that USA isn't winning games by 20-30 against decents teams...And that with a new dream team the last olympics, they had a lot of trouble to win Spain.
Usa should not only win the Gold, they should win it easily.

Basketball is not the # 1 sport in the US . It's football . For a while Baseball was more popular than Basketball.And you mention this country's are missing Parker and Ben Simmons. The U.S. does not have LeBron James or Stephen curry . And Spain is just soft. A front court of Gasol and Mirotic is leading you know where .