The Olympics are serious business where coaches and players agonize over strategies and attempt to carve out the perfect game plan for victory. Unless you're Team USA and you can settle a strategic dispute by playing Rock-Paper-Scissors.
Team USA has kicked off the 2016 Rio Olympics with aplomb by defeating China 119-62. The 57-point margin of victory has set the tone and benchmark for the team going forward. China will have the small consolation of knowing that they led the game 4-2 in the initial stages. That would prove to be their last lead.
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The superstars of Team USA are used to carrying a large load for their respective teams in the NBA. Hence, some of them have to conserve some energy on defence in order to shoulder the burden of the offense. But that weight is lifted when they play for Team USA, allowing them to be tenacious on defence to trigger fast-break opportunities.
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They also know that they'll be playing between 10-20 minutes per game. So they are free to go all out on each possession. USA forced 25 turnovers with their pressure defence and led by 20 points after the first quarter and 29 at half time. They assisted on 31 of their 38 field goals and every player except DeAndre Jordan recorded an assist.
After 2004, the USA team had one goal in 2008, to regain the gold medal. 2012 saw the pressure of repeating. In 2016, the team bears the burden of proving that it is an elite team in spite of missing names like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook and others. For the team to prove that it belongs in the same conversation as the Dream Team of 1992, they need to match their margin of victory of 43.8 points. The only way to do that is by running up the score in transition.
Kevin Durant led the way for Team USA with 25 points, shooting 10-14 from the field. DeMarcus Cousins chipped in with 17 points in 15 minutes along with 5 rebounds. Paul George added 15 points off the bench, making all 7 of his free throws.
Another way to establish dominance is by a display of entertaining nonchalance. It wouldn't be a Team USA match if there wasn't some Vine-worthy moment in the game. In this contest, DeMar DeRozan and Jimmy Butler gave us one such moment.
Late in the 3rd quarter, Team USA had to take a technical free-throw. Butler and DeRozan decided that rather than compare their career free throw percentages, why not play a game within a game to decide who will take a free throw?
For his career, Butler has shot 81.2 % from the line, while DeRozan has shot 82.5%. The difference is minuscule enough for them to settle the question thusly:
Only Team USA can be so nonchalant and yet steamroll the competition.
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