The Rio Olympics 2016 basketball event tips off on 6 August and concludes on 21 August and team USA will be looking to defend their gold medal from the Olympics in 2012. A win in Brazil will make it yet another hat-trick of titles after they only managed a bronze medal at Athens in 2004. How far can the USA basketball team go in Rio?
USA Olympics Basketball squad
The United States of America have named a very different squad from the one that won gold in London four years ago and only two players from the 2012 squad return for another shot at the gold medal – Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony.
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Mike Krzyzewski (aka Coach K), who has led USA to gold medals at both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, has trimmed the squad down to 12 from a list of 37 candidates. While five players withdrew due to injuries (Stephen Curry, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, John Wall and LaMarcus Aldridge), many stars such as LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Chris Paul withdrew of their own accord.
With an average age of 26, the squad is well balanced and consists of players with both youth and experience on their side. Durant was the top scorer in 2012 and looks all set to lead this side again.
| # | POS | PLAYER | HEIGHT | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Guard | Jimmy Butler | 6' 7" | 26 |
| 5 | Forward | Kevin Durant | 6' 9" | 27 |
| 6 | Center | DeAndre Jordan | 6' 11" | 28 |
| 7 | Guard | Kyle Lowry | 6' 0" | 30 |
| 8 | Forward | Harrison Barnes | 6' 8" | 24 |
| 9 | Guard | DeMar DeRozan | 6' 7" | 26 |
| 10 | Guard | Kyrie Irving | 6' 3" | 24 |
| 11 | Guard | Klay Thompson | 6' 7" | 26 |
| 12 | Center | DeMarcus Cousins | 6' 11" | 25 |
| 13 | Forward | Paul George | 6' 9" | 26 |
| 14 | Forward | Draymond Green | 6' 7" | 26 |
| 15 | Forward | Carmelo Anthony | 6' 8" | 32 |
USA’s possible Starting Five: Cousins, Durant, George, Irving and Thompson
USA Olympics Basketball team – Match timings
USA are in Group A and play China, France, Venezuela, Australia and Serbia on alternate days. They start their campaign against China and finish their group stage matches against one of their toughest opponents in this edition in France.
| DATE | FIXTURE | TIME* | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group A | 6th August | China vs USA | 19:00 |
| Group A | 8th August | USA vs Venezuela | 19:00 |
| Group A | 10th August | Australia vs USA | 19:00 |
| Group A | 12th August | USA vs Serbia | 19:00 |
| Group A | 14th August | USA vs France | 14:15 |
| Q/F | 17th August | TBD | TBD |
| S/F | 19th August | TBD | TBD |
| F or 3rd | 21st August | TBD | TBD |
*All timings are in Rio local time
USA Olympics Basketball – Group Analysis
USA have already played exhibition matches against some of their opponents at the Olympics over the past two weeks. China, in particular, were thrashed not once but twice with similar 50-point margins.
The weakest teams in Group A are China and Venezuela. China have a lot of big men but USA will easily play small with one big man, spread the game and take shots – especially from the perimeter since the Olympic 3-point line is almost two feet shorter at the top of the arc. Australia also do not pose much of a threat even though they have a few NBA stars such as 7-foot center Andrew Bogut.
France will pose the biggest problem and are favourites to compete with Spain to reach the gold medal match. With the big man Rudy Gobert set to test USA in the paint, whose standing reach alone is 9 feet 7 inches, Krzyzewski will have to plan how to tackle him in the middle and Tony Parker running things for the French.
USA should easily breeze through the group stage and may not be really tested until they reach the semi-finals.
USA Olympics Basketball – Prediction
The Gold medal is USA’s to lose. And even if they took a B-team, there isn’t another team who can match them player for player and give them a fight.
Spain are without Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka while Argentina’s golden generation quartet that took the gold in 2004 now has an average age of 36. For the rest of the teams, it is going to be a fight for the silver medal unless team USA capitulates like they did in 2004 – which is unlikely under the watchful eye of Coach K.
