It was a local hero, Noah Lyes, who hurt his country’s pride when the American won three gold medals at last year’s world championships in athletics. “You know what hurts me the most? When I watch the NBA finals and in my head they say ‘World Champions.’ Champions of what? The United States? Don’t get me wrong. I love my country… sometimes. But we are not the world. Here we are the world. All the countries are showing their flags and fighting to win. In the NBA there are no flags.”
The American ego was shaken by Lyles’ truths and some stars of the American league beat their chests in response. “Someone should help that brother,” Kevin Durant said. The fact is that American basketball has discovered in recent times, and on more than one occasion, that they are not the world, even if they put together a cast of stars worthy of being called a Dream Team, as in these Paris Games.
The last slap in the face came at the last World Cup, shortly after Lyles’ speech. The United States lost to Lithuania in the second round, to Germany in the semi-finals and to Canada for third place. It is true that the world championships are a bit lazy for the great NBA stars, who reserve themselves for the Games. On the Olympic stage, they have already won four golds in a row, all since the defeat in the semi-finals of 2004 against Argentina. In Beijing 2008, in that unforgettable final against Spain, a collection began that has not stopped. Since that Greek slip, the American team has only lost one game in the Games, the opening game in Tokyo against France. And in Paris, the empire has landed with its best clothes.
LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant lead a stardom that includes other greats such as Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum. On paper, there seems to be no doubt that only gold metal is worthy of such a museum, but the preparation matches have discovered some cracks in the battleship of Steve Kerr, coach of the Warriors. The United States sweated to defeat South Sudan, who were 14 points ahead at halftime, and Germany, a duel that required LeBron James to score 11 points in the last four minutes.
In pursuit of the unprecedented record of a fourth gold medal in basketball, Kevin Durant had grown before the tour: “I want us to send a message, to make clear how dominant we are. I’m talking about winning games by 40 or 50 points. That’s what I want to do.” Reality put things in their place and Kerr brought things back down to earth after the last game. “I hate the pace we had. It seemed like we were passing the ball around. We have to make adjustments at a strategic and emotional level,” he said. “Any rival will be difficult,” Durant admitted yesterday. The Dream Team shares Group C with Serbia (debut on Sunday), South Sudan and Puerto Rico; Group A includes Australia, Greece, Canada and Spain; and Group B includes France, Germany, Japan and Brazil. The top two in each group and the two best third-place teams advance to the quarterfinals.
France is the host, hanging on to the giant Wembanyama despite having lost four consecutive preparation games (against Serbia, Germany, Canada and Australia). Canada, World Cup bronze medallist and led by Spaniard Jordi Fernandez, coach of the Nets, has 10 NBA players lined up, with Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous and Dillon Brooks at the helm. Serbia has Jokic and Micic. Greece boasts Antetokounmpo, Papanikolaou and Calathes…
The NBA will have a tough time because another NBA is preparing to take part. The Games are the tournament with the most players from the American league in history, 51. The 12 teams have at least one representative from the championship. Among them Spain, with Santi Aldama, once Garuba finished his contract with the Warriors and is aiming for Real Madrid. Scariolo’s team trained yesterday from 22:15 to 23:15 in Lille, the venue for the first phase, after problems in arranging a schedule, and before its opening game on Saturday at 11:00 against Australia. It will be the game that opens basketball at the Games.
Curry endorses Kamala Harris
The upcoming US elections are still hovering over the basketball team’s training camp. If at the beginning of the week it was LeBron James, as standard-bearer, who asked to be a symbol of unity in a “divided” country, yesterday it was Stephen Curry who again waved the flag of politics. The Warriors star showed his support for Democrat Kamala Harris in the electoral battle against Donald Trump.
“Hopefully we can win the election with her. She is a great support for us and we will give that energy back to her,” Curry said. Kamala Harris visited the US team on July 9 in Las Vegas.
US national team coach and Warriors coach Steve Kerr also sided with Harris: “I’ve seen her a few times and I call her Kamala. If she wins, I should change that, I can’t call her by her first name. Admirably, President Biden knows it’s time to quit and Kamala Harris is a great candidate. I will support her.”
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