On Friday night in Rio, the United States men’s basketball team came away with an Olympic preliminary round victory over Serbia… barely.
With the U.S. up 94-91, they allowed far too good of a three-point look for Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic, but Bogdanovic missed, and the U.S. held on for a three-point victory:
When you are up 3 with a few seconds left, every defender should be guarding 3-pt. line. USA has none! #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/7Qtkm5nIUX
— Dan Cahill (@dancahill_cst) August 13, 2016
It was another sloppy performance by Team USA; the game never should’ve been never been that close. Things are particularly concerning on the defensive end, where the U.S. allowed Serbia to shoot 52% from the field.
No idea why people are complaining about the offense/“lack of true point guard.” The defense is the nightmare for Team USA. — Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) August 13, 2016
Nikola Jokic, an NBA All-Rookie representative this past season for the Denver Nuggets, went off for 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field, while Serbia point guard Milos Teodosic also added in 18 points and six assists.
Kyrie Irving led the way for the U.S. with 15 points and five assists.
Despite not being on top of their game, the U.S. still has gone 4-0 and clinched the top spot in Group A. Their next game will be on Sunday against Tony Parker and France.
[NBCSN]
