Another scare: US men’s basketball team edges Serbia 94-91

Both of those tags, at least for the moment, continue to be applicable for this incarnation of the United States men’s Olympic basketball team.

Threatened by Australia in its previous game, the US men’s team started fast but had to survive a heart-racing final seconds to beat Serbia 94-91 on Friday, the 49th consecutive worldwide tournament win for the Americans.

No. 50 is no given, and suddenly, a gold medal that seemed a formality just a few days ago is anything but certain.

“Can we play better?”

Former Duke star Kyrie Irving scored 15 points, and Durant and Carmelo Anthony had 12 apiece for the US team, which arrived in Brazil being lauded as another American super squad. After a close call against Australia and Serbia, the rest of the field might be starting to believe the Americans can be taken.

“We’re going to get their best shot”. “We had a great start, great start”. Punctuated by drive and kicks, the United States racked up easy look after easy look, which led to them scoring 27 points on 50% shooting. We should have held the lead and we just got sidetracked by stupid stuff, from the calls to the physicality, the extra plays.

“We do have more talent and we have to get our talent playing even much better as a team. That’s the way it’s going to be out here”. Krzyzewski canceled Saturday’s scheduled practice with a Sunday afternoon game looming against France to finish off Group A play, but the coach has booked a team meeting, video session and walkthrough on the cruise ship USAB is using here as a home base.

Women’s basketball: There was no question coming into the Olympics that the US women’s basketball team could score. Klay Thompson, who has been struggling, hit his first 3-point attempt. They trailed at halftime against Australia before winning by 10 points in the previous game.

With that being said, listed below are some of the reactions pertaining to yesterday’s USA-Serbia matchup that the A Royal Pain team was able to gather up from social media. Following the first quarter, this ball movement infused offensive attack was gone, and the USA returned to the stagnant offensive style that almost cost them against Australia.

One would have assumed after getting their first real taste of competition against Australia on Wednesday that the Americans would look to send a message to the rest of the world they are still the overwhelming favourites. The Alabamian in the middle for the Americans has been solid, averaging 8.5 points and a team-high 5.3 rebounds, but he’s spent too much time on the bench thanks to early foul trouble, playing just 13.8 minutes a game.

US guard Paul George admitted that the high-priced American talent – who only began playing as a unit a few weeks ago – were still adjusting to global play.

The USA has won the last three Olympic gold medals and 14 in total.

A look at the last two offensive possessions showed that the U.S.is lacking chemistry in half-court offense. The U.S. also is represented in two other medal races Saturday: men’s eight, women’s single sculls.

Men’s boxing: Nico Hernandez had a gnarly gash over his left eye that left him bloodied, with blurred vision and in need of stitches. Hernandez will leave the Rio Games with a bronze medal in the light flyweight division, ending a medal drought for the USA that stretched to 2008. Hernandez’s chance for a gold medal ended when he lost to Uzbekistan’s Hasanboy Dusmatov by unanimous decision.

“We stopped moving the ball and we stopped defending”, Green said. Before Meinhardt could utter another word, teammate Alexander Massialas cut him off.

Defensively, the US was bad against Australia and Serbia trying to defend their motion offenses filled with back cuts and slip screens. As the tournament progresses, it is interesting to watch Team USA’s coaching staff begin to put more faith in the Raptors guards, with Lowry played big minutes against the Venezuelans and now DeMar against the Serbians.