As expected, Team USA hasn’t lost a game so far in the Rio Olympics. But surprisingly, they have been served with a good scare, not once, but twice.
The games against Australia and Serbia were eye openers to the rest of the competition. The United States can be defeated, and although it’s still a very tough task, it has appeared easier than expected.
This tough two-game stretch isn’t only revealing to the other competing teams, but also to the Americans. In Marc Stein’s recent article for ESPN, a couple of Team USA players sounded off on their realizations at this point of the tournament.
“We just got to step up our communication on the defensive end. We all made that clear after the game. That's something we got to be better at and will be better at.”
“When we're sharing the ball, we're getting out in transition and everybody's getting a chance to touch the ball, that's when we become really dangerous.”
“Put together 40 minutes of defense and we'll be fine. We got some of the best scorers in the world. Offense isn't the problem. We got to worry about playing defense for a whole game.”
The defense that this team had took much pride in went missing, as their opponents’ crisp passing and ball movement have become major headaches.
They play France next, a team that is loaded with NBA talents, and it goes to show that Team USA isn’t getting any break to catch their breathe. If they are to regain the aura of invincibility that they initially held, they must do it on the fly.
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