If living up to the adage: “If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all” was an Olympic event, the US men’s basketball team would have been standing atop the Rio de Janeiro Games podium on Thursday.
Plenty of platitudes and praise were being handed out, but no medals: Those will be awarded on the final day of the Rio Olympics on Aug. 21, when US players are expected, as they have at 14 of 17 Summer Games, to bring home gold.
While this US squad is more “B Team” than “Dream Team” — with many top players, including four-time National Basketball Association MVP LeBron James and twice reigning MVP Stephen Curry, opting out — they remain the heavy favorites.
Photo: AP
If there was any thought the US might be ripe for an upset in Rio, Team USA removed a good amount of that doubt with a dominating run-in to the Games that saw them thrash China, their opening-night opponents, by 50 and 49 points in tune-up games.
Asked what he expected from China today, Kevin Durant, the 2014 NBA MVP, searched for a moment for something positive to say before settling on the well-worn, but trusty cliche: “They made us work.”
“They played their tails off against us and made us better,” offered Durant in the sincerest tone he could muster.
“We won by a lot of points, but they made us better,” he said.
“I know it is going to be different here,” Durant said. “This is the real thing, these guys want to beat us, everybody wants to beat us and we don’t to be that team to have someone beat us.”
Despite Durant’s best attempts to inject some suspense into today’s contest, the truth is that the outcome is unlikely to be any different.
Losses have been rare on Olympic hardwood for the US, who boast an all-time record of 130-5 in Games competition and will be expected to add to that win column as they chase a third straight gold.
However, at a packed news conference on Thursday, Team USA players and coaching staff did their best to convince hundreds of media that danger lurked everywhere up and down the draw.
“We want to win, we want to send a message to the rest of the world we are here on business,” said Carmelo Anthony, a four-time Olympian in basketball. “We are focused on winning and that’s what we care about.”
“We don’t want to let anything come in between that,” he said.
Reigning champions South Korea yesterday struck with eight minutes left to seal a 2-1 win over a “proud” China to reach the Asian Games men’s soccer final. The South Koreans are to face either hosts Japan or Uzbekistan for gold on Saturday as they pursue a fourth consecutive title. Uzbekistan and Japan were tied 1-1 as of press time last night. Bae Jun-ho was their hero, ghosting in at the back post to head in a dramatic 82nd-minute winner at Nagai Stadium. Men’s soccer at the Asian Games consists of under-23 squads with three overage players. “We were expecting a challenging match but we persevered,”
China’s Wang Xiyu, fresh from conquering top seed Alexandra Eala, toppled Zhang Shuai to win Asian Games women’s tennis singles gold yesterday — and a ticket to the Los Angeles Olympics. The 25-year-old Wang breezed past her compatriot 6-2, 6-1 in 66 minutes at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya. Tennis is one of seven sports at the Games where the winners receive an Olympic qualification place. Wang paid tribute to the 37-year-old Zhang, who has won multiple Grand Slam doubles titles and has now added a second Asian Games singles silver medal to the one she won in 2018 in
Hong Kong’s men’s rugby sevens team romped to a third consecutive Asian Games gold with a dominant display in a 26-0 victory over China yesterday. Wing Harry Sayers scored a pair of first-half tries, added to by Dafydd Phillips to put Hong Kong in charge 21-0 at the break. When flying wing Juan Esono Mba Oyana scored Hong Kong’s fourth try straight from the second-half kick-off the result was beyond doubt. “Amazing, amazing. The Asian Games has been a dream of mine for so long now,” said Sayers. Hong Kong’s success was built not only on scoring prowess but also a defense that conceded
Taiwanese tennis players Hsieh Su-wei and Chan Hao-ching on Saturday revived their feud at the Asian Games, with Chan fuming at Hsieh for a handshake snub at the end of their women’s doubles final in Nagoya, Japan. The pair last month did not shake hands following a tense US Open doubles match in which Hsieh’s playing partner Jelena Ostapenko roared at Chan’s coach, who is also her older sister, in the player’s box after sealing victory. The Taiwanese rivals later traded barbs on social media about the incident. Chan on Saturday said she had been willing to put all that
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