Team USA NBA Stars Fight For Gold in Rio Olympics
Team USA, NBA stars face a tough test against Argentina on Wednesday at the Rio Olympic quarter-finals.
The American team, who is the two-time defending champions, have won a total of 22 consecutive Olympic games since losing to Argentina at the 2004 Athens semi-finals where they got the silver medal.
The lineup of US with 10 Olympic debutantes was challenged and tested by Australia and managed to get 2-point triumphs over Serbia while France team resting star Tony Parker in group play.
"I still think they are the favourites for sure, but after what happened in the last two or three games, yes, there are some doubts," an NBA star guard for the San Antonio Spurs, Argentina's Manu Ginobili said.
The US team remain a team rivals rather avoid facing it too soon. However, LeBron James is absent during the Olympic game.
"(It's) their athleticism, talent, and any given night they can get hot. The tournament is closer than what I thought. It doesn't look like it'll be easy for anybody. I was kind of surprised, two games they were either a shot away from going to overtime or losing. I'm very surprised after playing them (in a July Olympic warm-up game) and looking at their roster," Ginobili said.
The 2014 NBA MVP, 4-time NBA scoring champion and Golden State player Kevin Durant leads the US team with 16.8 points a game and with an average of 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
Carmelo Anthony is seeking the third men's basketball Olympic gold medal with an average of 15.2 points and 5.0 rebounds.
"We have some great competition out there, some great games. We got to get even more prepared. We got to be prepared for whatever. We come into these games with the same mindset -- to dominate," Anthony said.
Kyrie Irving, the player who helped Cleveland won the NBA title in June with an average of 12.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists. The US rebounders scored an average of 5.2 a game who is lead by DeMarcus Cousins.
"We understand that this journey ends with a gold medal and we have to do everything possible to go for it," Irving said.
Despite of the challenges, the American team never lost in 10 games. It includes the 5 games in Rio and 5 games in other Olympics.
"I'm comfortable with us as a team right now. Teams are having success against us, but we're just finding ways to win regardless," US point guard Paul George said.
"We just have to trust ourselves on both sides of the ball. If we do that and play hard, I don't think we'll lose," US point guard Klay Thompson added.
If the US team advance in the competition, they will face the semi-finals game against the winner between France and Spain match.