Team USA Proves To Be Dud In Hoops Opener, But Does Anyone Really Care?

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The once-powerful Team USA men’s basketball is long gone, and the journey to a fourth consecutive gold medal is already fraught with adversity — but are we really surprised?

The 2020 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team (0-1) opened with a 83-76 loss to France (1-0) on Sunday night in the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Jrue Holiday was the team’s top scorer with 18 points, and also in double-digit scoring were Bam Adebayo with 12, Damian Lillard scored 11 and Kevin Durant added 10 points.

But when it mattered most in the last minutes of the game, France scored 11 points as turnovers and missed shots halted the American’s offense — with 21.8 seconds to go, France had a 78-74 lead and closed out for the win.

With Boston Celtics’ Evan Fournier, France beat the Americans to open the Tokyo Olympics, snapping a 25-game Olympic winning streak dating back to 2004 for Team USA, ESPN reports.

Fournier drilled a 3-pointer with a minute to play to give the French the lead for good — and the final blow for Team USA — completing its comeback after the U.S. had a six-point lead with four minutes to play, per ESPN.

It was followed by a Team USA possession in which the Americans managed to get five shots off and missed them all — the final three shots were wide-open 3-point attempts by Zach LaVine, Kevin Durant and Jrue Holiday, ESPN reports.

“There’s nothing to be surprised about,” Team USA coach Gregg Popovich said before launching into his routine go-to statement after losses. “When you lose a game you’re not surprised. You’re disappointed, but I don’t understand the word surprised. That sort of disses the French team, so to speak, as if we’re supposed to beat them by 30 or something. That’s a hell of a team.”

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Written by Megan Turner

Megan graduated from the University of Central Florida and writes and tweets about anything related to sports. She replies to comments she shouldn't reply to online and thinks the CFP Rankings are absolutely rigged. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

37 Comments

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    • Maybe the next Olympics we can get Brad Stevens to coach Team USA. I can respect Pop for what he has done in San Antonio but Pop sometimes has that Phil Jackson attitude of “let em play it out” instead of calling a timeout at the right time to stop momentum of the other team

  2. Clearly you can tell they need more time to play together and understand were each guy fits on the team. I like the addition of Drew Holiday because he and Middleton have more of an “Old School Game” plus Holiday is great defensively. This can also be a wake up call because the only time they really played “lockdown defense” was the start of the 4th quarter when they jumped out to a lead after a HORRIBLE 5rd quarter (Cmon Pop) . Hopefully they rebound and go on a run to win gold like the Women’s Soccer team after the loss.

    Let’s Go Team USA #Dbap America has your back #HoopsMatter

    • Sports are meritocracy, if you and MAGA are good enough you can make the team. Didn’t Jesse Owen’s prove anything to the RIGHT? Hard work not genes get you on the squad. #MenNotMice #DiversityWinsOrAmericaCantWin

        • Lincoln and the Republicans were a PROGRESSIVE LIBERAL PARTY fighting the Institution of Slavery and the tyranny of Andrew Jackson. If you knew ANYTHING ABOUT AMERICAN HISTORY you would know the Democrats were CONSERVATIVES. Read a book for once Karen and Darren. You can’t be this stupid? See Barry Goldwater and how he changed the body of politics. Btw…Read up on Jackie Robinson. He actually tried to save the GOP from Goldwater, Nixon and the Southern Political Strategy. #CriticalTruthTheory

          • I like history. The Confederacy in the Civil War were Democrats. Lincoln was a Republican. The Democrats were the party of slavery, and the party of bigotry today.
            Post Civil War, J.W. Boothe, a Democrat sympathizer assassinated Lincoln The Democrats Implemented and enforced Jim Crow laws. The first Black representatives in Congress were Republicans. Malcom X was assassinated by Democrats in The Nation. By the way Malcolm Little’s body guard was an FBI informant. The FBI has a long history of corrupt involvement in politics. Wiretapping, subversive activity to cause crimes, lying, cheating, stealing, supplying subversives with bombs and weapons. Martin Luther King was assassinated by a Democrat, MLK was also a victim of FBI corruption. George Wallace one of the most strident segregationist/bigots of the 20th century was a Democrat. The Civil Rights movement was supported by Republicans. Southern Democrats held the longest filibuster in Senate history over the Civil Rights Act of 1964. “The longest filibuster in U.S. history was 75 days. It took place in 1964, when Democrats tried to block the Civil Rights Act. It’d be a shame if this went viral.” Some of the fiercest opponents of the Civil Rights Movement were Democrats. The KKK was created by Democrats and was the military arm of the Democrat Party until Antifa assumed the role. The current village idiot of the United States of America was a great pal to the KKK and loved Robert Byrd a Grand Kleagle of the KKK. Barry Obama called Hillary a racist in the 2008 primary. BLM is a proud Marxist group who want to destroy America. “You ain’t black unless you vote for me”. The Village Idiot said that, along with many other racists comments and actions. Remember his words about Blacks back in the day, 1993-94 “We have predators in the street” referring to young Black men, said Biden.

            “They are beyond the pale many of those people, beyond the pale,” Biden continued. “And it’s a sad commentary on society. We have no choice but to take them out of society.”

            A doctrine of black supremacy is as dangerous as a doctrine of white supremacy. God is not interested in the freedom of black men or brown men or yellow men. God is interested in the freedom of the whole human race, the creation of a society where every man will respect the dignity and worth of personality.

            — Martin Luther King Jr., Speech at the Southern Methodist University, March 17, 1966.

            I like books.

          • Absolute garbage revisionist history. The Democrats were not “Conservatives” and the Lincoln Republicans were not “liberals”

            What books are you reading??

      • This is a total miss on your part. Let me help you with this….dips like you prioritize diversity over compentency so the NBA should be doing the same thing! Please go back to mommies couch and wait on your next stimulus check.

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