This is what most fans expect from USA Basketball. This is also what Team USA expects from itself. The question is can they repeat it?
Team USA used its defense to force turnovers and misses, then ran off those, using their athleticism to overwhelm their opponent. Throw in some made threes and the USA cruised to a 108-80 thrashing of Argentina on Tuesday night in a pre-Olympics exhibition game.
“It was better,” often understated U.S.A. coach Gregg Popovich said. Popovich is right, it was better. However, a real test of the USA’s progress comes Friday night when they take on Australia again.
After a couple of unimpressive exhibition losses to Nigeria and Australia that raised red flags, this was the kind of easy victory Team USA needed.
The USA defense looked much improved (albeit against a team without the talent of Nigeria or Australia). The USA raced out to a 15-4 lead behind its strong defense, allowing the team to get out in transition off misses.
