The Olympics are here and there is one team that has very good odds of winning the gold. That team is the USA Men's Basketball team. They might not all be MVPs, but they still are great players. They are predicted to go for the gold, and succeed. Their odds to win are 1-20. The next team after the US to have the best odds is Spain with 12-1 odds. Just because the US is predicted to win the gold does not mean it will be an easy journey to get that medal.
One of the main reasons the team is playing and wants to win that gold is for Craig Sager. Craig Sager is a fantastic sports reporter. During his career as a reporter, he has reported the Olympic games 4 times for the US and this year would have been his fifth Olympics but unfortunately, Craig Sager was unable to travel to Rio. Sager was diagnosed with Leukemia in March 2016 for the second time. A couple of the players were interviewed about Sager and Kevin Durant in particular said that they would be winning this gold just for Sager.
When all the competitors arrive in Rio, most stay in athletes' village, but for the USA men's basketball team that is not the case. The team is staying in a cruise ship outside of the city so as to stay away from all the craziness of the village. The team is secluded from all the other athletes besides the USA women's basketball team, who also stays on the ship with the men. Reporters are not allowed to go past a certain gate, which is nice so as to not interrupt the players at any time. I can see where there are pros and cons of not staying in the village v. staying in the village. I would suspect it is easier to focus on the ship than being in the village with all of the other athletes from around the world. The con is that the team does not get to experience life in the village. The athletes from all around the world get to meet each other and how cool would that be to meet and develop friendships with athletes from different countries? I would say pretty cool. But the men's team is here for a reason, to win the gold!
There are six to seven players that can play a number of different positions, which also makes this team that much better. The team ranges from newbies to veterans, but mostly has newbies. The veterans on the team are Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony. This is Carmelo's fourth time playing in the Olympics. The newbies for the team are everyone else. This includes: Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes, DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George and DeAndre Jordan. Having a team with so many rookies will make it a different type of ball game. This will be an interesting journey for the gold since this team will be playing against many veteran teams, one in particular, Spain.
The men's first game was against China on Saturday, August 6th. For the first half, the US was winning 59-30. The US lead in both rebounds and field goal percentage. China had 16 rebounds, while the US had 25. Also, the FGP for the US was 51% compared to China's percentage of 36%. The leading scorer for the first half was Kevin Durant, who went 7 for 9 with 17 points.
The final score after the fourth quarter was 119-62. The US team shot 51% overall and the leading scorer of the game was Kevin Durant. Durant went 10 for 27 with 25 points. The US team had 31 assists to China's 16. Turnovers were the downfall of China in this game. China lead with 23 turnovers compared to 10 for the US. This leaves the United States with a great start to the Olympics.
This team has a long road ahead of them and many difficult teams to surpass (Australia, Serbia and France) in Group B before they can get to the medal round, but with this team I think anything is possible!
