Team USA May Have Just Caught A Gigantic Prayer In Their Pursuit Of FIBA Gold
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First off, all the credit in the world to Argentina. They’ve been pretty damn impressive so far, are now 6-0 in the tournament and Luis Scola is turning back the clock. Did you know he’s essentially one of the best FIBA players ever? That’s not hyperbole, look it up. I think he’s second or so in FIBA scoring or some shit like that, the dude is a monster. He continued his dominance with a nice 20/5 on 7/13 shooting in his 30 minutes, and there’s no denying that Argentina and their 53/44% splits absolutely took it to one of the favorites of this tournament in Serbia.
We also have to acknowledge that Team USA has its own tough matchup tomorrow against France, a team that is 7-1. It is no guarantee they couldn’t pull off the upset against the US just like Argentina did today. Team USA will still have to play great to win that game, but there is no denying that their path to gold in this tournament may have just gotten a little easier with Serbia now eliminated since they were in the US’s bracket. They now don’t have to deal with Jokic, Boban, or Bangdanovic which in my mind is a huge win. Serbia had been killing teams by 40+ which was a FIBA record, but perhaps it’s because they weren’t really playing anybody? People loved to talk about how Team USA wasn’t playing anybody hard, but we didn’t really hear that about Serbia, just that they were completely destroying teams. Well the first time they played someone who can actually hang, they folded. Who knows if the same thing would have happened against Team USA, but I’m happy we won’t have to find out.
Now if the US is fortunate enough to move on, Argentina is obviously going to be no joke. They may be a team with 0 NBA players on it right now, but as we just saw in this FIBA competition that doesn’t always guarantee success. You also have to factor in that Argentina has upset the US before
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Granted that 2019 win in the qualifiers was against a different US group, but still. This is not going to be a team that is afraid to play Team USA.
But the good news is that the team who had the second best odds to win the whole damn thing, a team with a guy who could be in the running for the NBA MVP, is now no longer in Team USA’s path. That’s a good thing. Now it’s just up to them take care of business tomorrow and with Jayson Tatum sounding like he’ll be back, this team will be at full strength just as the competition starts to get legit.