Hopefully, no one minds that I stuck this topic here. I was afraid that it wouldn't get much play farther down the board. I also don't want to make it political.
Our USA men's team went 2-2 in exhibition play, and is off to an 0-1 start in official games after losing to France 83-76. France was something like 1-4 in exhibition games. I know that other countries have caught up to some degree, but our roster is loaded with excellent NBA players. We still have the best players in the world, IMO. I don't know what's going on, but we don't have much time to get it figured out.
Honestly, the biggest reason probably is that they are used to having more time off to rest and reset after their season. In 2016 the NBA finals ended in June but the Olympics didn't start til August. This year players who were in the finals were on a plane to Tokoyo shortly like 48 hours after the season ended. There are a lot of people who you might have thought would be on the team that aren't due to injury or withdrawing their name from consideration and they had to replace two players at the last minute.
Put this on top of less rest time in between the last two seasons due to COVID and my guess is you have people who are worn down, tired, and maybe a little sick of basketball/not taking it as seriously.
Quote from: crusader05 on July 25, 2021, 05:11:58 PMThis year players who were in the finals were on a plane to Tokoyo
Is that in Qatar? I heard it's a perfect place to hold an athletics competition. ;)
Intl ball is a bit different and the other countries don't have the turnover the US team has so they always have what amounts to a pickup team playing. That'll work most of the time but some groups just never seem to jell and this could be one of those years.
Olympic Men's Basketball Quarterfinal Pairings Announced
Date: Aug 1, 2021
-- U.S. Olympic Men's Team to Face Spain August 3 at 12:40 a.m. (EDT) --
https://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2021/07/moly-quarterfinals-draw.aspx
Kevin Durant, Jrue Holiday rally Team USA past Australia to Olympic men's basketball gold-medal game
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.com/olympics/basketball/story/_/id/31962278/kevin-durant-jrue-holiday-rally-team-usa-australia-olympic-men-basketball-gold-medal-game%3fplatform=amp
US men win gold!
Kevin Durant had 29 points and earned his 3rd gold medal.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=CGkEFKF3Dvs&feature=share
Actually a great, grinding game and both teams scrapped through it well. The US obviously does not win gold without Durant who was outstanding. France was really tough and would not let down.
Quote from: usc4valpo on August 07, 2021, 02:00:09 PM
Actually a great, grinding game and both teams scrapped through it well. The US obviously does not win gold without who was outstanding. France was really tough and would not let down.
I thought who was great also.
What did you think of What and I Don't Know?
Story about that ... see above