Team USA: It’s Time To Go For The Gold

The 2012 Olympics Men’s Basketball team wrapped up their preliminary games today. Despite the challenges that they faced against Lithuania and a close first half against Argentina, the U.S. went a perfect 5-0 in the preliminaries and head into the elimination rounds at the top of their bracket. What a surprise right?

The U.S.A. is the obvious favorites to bring home the gold with Spain being a close second. With Spain dropping its last two games against Russia and Brasil, The U.S.A. has gained even more ground in being gold medal favorites. The U.S. Men’s Basketball team has had it’s own challenges especially against Lithuania, but with this talent packed roster, it’s hard to even fathom the thought of them being beat. The opposition has been playing them quite fearlessly, but there isn’t much to be done when this U.S. team takes the court and get themselves into a rhythm.

With the preliminaries over with now, the U.S. has proved to be invincible at times as seen in their play versus Nigeria, but they have also seemed a bit brittle as shown between the close game versus Lithuania and the tight first half against Argentina. Yet, they found a way to pull through and notch victories both times.  Heading into the elimination games the U.S. has to realize that lackadaisical defense will not get the job done. Defensive intensity and ball pressure has to be increased in these upcoming games because the stakes are much higher and as competitors these opposing teams are coming into these games believing that the U.S. can and will be beat by them. These opposing countries are playing fearlessly.

There is no denying that the U.S. has a talent packed roster from seasoned veterans to young, explosive players ready to wreak havoc on the opposition. This team may not have a big frontline in comparison to the other teams that they’ll meet, but this team is quite unstoppable when they move the ball, play tenacious defense, attack the boards, and score efficiently on their offensive possessions.

It’s time for the U.S. to make every win an emphatic win, especially on the defensive end. With all of these guys on the same team, offense can and will come from anywhere at any time. Whether in a close game or blow out, most of these players live for big moments such as these and none of them handle defeat well. They are playing in the shadows of the Dream Team right now being that this is the twenty year anniversary of the “Almighty” Dream Team. This 2012 Olympics Men’s Basketball team has the ability to head into these elimination rounds and take every game in glorious fashion. I have no doubt that they will indeed take every game, no matter the competitor, it will be exciting to see how they go about approaching these games mentally and strategically. The journey to the gold starts on Wednesday against Australia. Our country is watching and we are all behind you one hundred percent boys! Bring home the gold boys!