TOKYO — These Olympics were always supposed to be a mini redemption tour for Team USA, even if the Americans are three-time-defending gold medalists. The two losses in Las Vegas only clarified the mission.
The idea that American men’s basketball had fallen from its perch above the rest of the world can be traced to Sept. 11, 2019, when Team USA blew a seven-point lead to France late in the second half of a World Cup quarterfinal and lost, by 10 points. Letting no opportunity go to waste, Olympic basketball organizers paired USAB against France in the Tokyo opener for both countries, which is Sunday night in Japan.
The Americans have been fed a few spoons of humility since losing to France, whether it was another loss the next night, to Serbia, or the sting of playing in a seventh-place game, in Beijing, with USA legend Kobe Bryant on hand, or the seemingly eye-opening defeats earlier this month by Nigeria and Australia. But as the quest for a fourth consecutive gold is set to officially begin, a restlessness is brewing inside the belly of the beast.
After two years of talk that American international basketball is not what it once was, that it is vulnerable, the Olympic tournament is wide open, and a team like France could win it all, the NBA players who will suit up in those familiar colors on the Americans’ side can prove otherwise.
“If anything, maybe you lost a little bit of the fear that we’ve had in people’s hearts for years — which you go out and do what you’ve got to do and you can get that right back,” said Draymond Green, one of two American holdovers from the 2016 gold medal team.
