Team USA played the perfect version of its imperfect game Sunday, securing a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics with a 96-66 dismantling of Serbia.
Kevin Durant, Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins were keys in executing the trademarked-yet-flawed recipe that was on display throughout the United States' time in Rio.
Stagnant (as usual), lacking urgency (of course) and unable to defend with Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving on the floor (again), Team USA stumbled early. Whether it was the failure to meet the moment or the mind-numbing predictability of America's lackluster start, the result was familiar frustration.
As was the case in so many U.S. games, the off-kilter first few minutes made you want to look away, as CBS Sports' Matt Moore expressed:
Assuredness of victory is the flip side of Team USA's Rio calling card. In a way, knowing wins were imminent made the ho-hum starts harder to endure: The ugliness was self-inflicted, the lineup shortcomings obvious and annoying. It was as though the U.S. insisted on making things hard for itself.
Reliably, it ev ...
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Article written by Grant Hughes
Team USA’s Flawed Style Plenty Enough for Gold; Olympics All-Tournament Team
August 21st, 2016 by Grant Hughes Leave a reply »
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