USA Basketball eyeing stiffer competition vs. Australia, France
RIO DE JANEIRO – The question posed from a reporter to Klay Thompson after Team USA’s 119-62 win over China in their Olympics opener Saturday was a joke – sort of: “You did break a sweat, right?”
“Yeah,” Thompson said with a smile. “We have respect for them. They play really hard. It was a great way to start the tournament.”
Which is all well and good, though the part about perspiration being involved was highly questionable. As the heavily favored Americans attempt to make their way toward a third consecutive gold medal, platitudes weren’t the pivotal part of the first day of basketball action.
Long before the Americans logged their third 50-plus-point win over China in their six games played thus far (five exhibition), it was Thompson’s old Golden State Warriors teammate, Australian Andrew Bogut, who led the way in an 87-66 upset win over France that should spark the kind of intrigue the opener lacked.
It only took a few minutes of action in the China affair for those of us on press row to start looking ahead – the 17-6 margin after a Kevin Durant bucket in the post was the unofficial turning point during his 25-point outing. You could have an early chuckle about the Americans’ early deficit – they’re down 2-0! – only to see them pull away so predictably as they had in those two exhibitions against China leading into Olympic play.
But while Monday’s game against Venezuela is next, Wednesday’s game against Australia suddenly seems compelling. This French team that fell is quite accomplished, with five NBA players (Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum, Rudy Gobert, Boris Diaw and Joffrey Lauvergne) and two others with past experience in the league (Nando de Colo, Mickael Gelabale).
Winners of the 2013 Eurobasket Tournament who took third in the 2014 FIBA World Cup and 2015 Eurobasket, they were seen by some as a serious threat to give the Americans a good game when they meet Aug. 14. But now, the Aussies – with their No. 11 world FIBA ranking and five NBA players of their own – are the ones earning early credibility.
And why not? In this NBA offseason in which the Warriors have dominated the headlines, it makes sense that we’d have one more Golden State subplot unfold. Bogut, of course, was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in early July so the Warriors could land Durant in free agency. Now less than two months after he missed the last two games of the Finals because of a left knee injury that was expected to keep him out of the Olympics, he had 18 points on nine-of-10 shooting in the opener.
“I’m excited to play them,” said Thompson, who also played with Aussies Aron Baynes (Detroit Pistons) and Brock Motum at Washington State. “It’s going to be real fun. They’re a tough team. They’ve got a tough frontcourt, and an NBA backcourt (with the San Antonio Spurs’ Patty Mills and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Matthew Dellavedova), so it’s going to be a good challenge for us.
“We’re looking forward to those two games, against France and Australia. But you can’t look past Venezuela. You know they’ve got talent too.”
In truth, these early games should be billed as Team USA vs. Team USA. The Americans are bending over backward to be respectful in their comments about opponents, but Venezuela has about as much a chance of downing the Americans as Carmelo Anthony does of being a world-class gymnast.
Even so, the two-way intensity has been impressive thus far – and very deliberate.
“With us playing short stints, it gives us an opportunity to go 100% – especially on the defensive end,” the Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan said. “We understand that once we get stops, every player on this team is a hell of a scorer, so it’s dangerous once we start to get stops and get out.
“We’re kind of challenging ourselves. We can’t look at (any) team, and think just because we have 12 of the best players in the world that we’re going to beat somebody. We have to challenge ourselves as well, and that’s what we’ve been doing – especially on the defensive end.”
And before long, who knows? Maybe they’ll face a challenge from the outside.
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