Basketball: U.S. men survive Serb scare to stay unbeaten
Send a link to a friend
[August 13, 2016]
By Steve Keating
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The U.S.
men's team extended their Olympic unbeaten run to 21 games with a
tense 94-91 win over Serbia on Friday, but their uneven play hinted
that a third straight gold might not be a fait accompli.
After opening the Rio Olympics with blowout wins over China and
Venezuela, cracks are starting to show in the armor of a usually
invincible U.S. team that have been put to the test against Serbia
and Australia in their last two games.
While the U.S. (4-0) lead Group A with one preliminary game
remaining against France on Sunday, they have been plagued by
turnovers in their last two contests and been unable to showcase the
dominance that has long been their trademark.
But despite some uneven play there was no panic in the U.S. camp as
players treated the near upsets as learning experiences ahead of the
knockout phase of the 12-team tournament.
"I'm not too concerned," said Paul George, who had 12 points in the
win while Kyrie Irving led the U.S. with 15. "We're a new group and
playing against an experienced offense, we're still trying to figure
it out.

"It's good we're having two games like these where we have to kind
of pull it together.
"Right now we we're just going through an adjustment period."
Coming off Wednesday's 98-88 win over Australia, the United States
appeared to have learned their lesson as they got off to a fast
start against Serbia.
The Americans opened with a 14-2 run highlighted by a one-handed
slam dunk from DeMarcus Cousins that triggered a round of high-fives
from the American bench and signaled that a rout was underway.
But sixth-ranked Serbia had other plans and denied the Americans a
chance to put the game out of reach as they pulled to within nine
points at halftime.
[to top of second column] |

Demar Derozan of the USA, Nikola Kalinic and Bogdan Bogdanovic of
Serbia in action. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

The tireless Serbs began to wear down the Americans in the second
half with their ball movement and with less than a minute to play
trailed by three and were in position to pull off the biggest upset
of the tournament.
But with the crowd on their feet and two seconds on the clock Bogdan
Bogdanovic's three-point attempt clanged off the rim allowing the
U.S. to escape with the win while Serbia dropped to 1-3.
"Serbian mentality is we have to fight to the end no matter what the
score," said center Miroslav Raduljica, who had 18 points for the
Serbs. "This is how we play and how we are going to keep playing,
not just this tournament but always as long as Serbia has a team."
In earlier Group A action, Australia (3-1) earned a 93-68 win over
China (0-4).
(Editing by Frank Pingue)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |