Basketball

Vardon: A USA men’s basketball loss at the Olympics? It’s no surprise anymore


SAITAMA, Japan — Gregg Popovich is exactly right. There is no “surprise” when it comes to the Americans losing basketball games. Not anymore.

“I don’t know what there was to be surprised about,” Popovich said to a reporter who’s covered him in San Antonio for years and flew halfway around the world to watch the team he coaches lose 83-76 to France in Game 1 of the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday.

Nope, no sense of shock here, even though the loss snapped a 25-game winning streak in the Olympics for Team USA. What was on display Sunday night is precisely who the Americans have been under two … shocking (since “surprising” is not a word to be used) summers under Popovich’s direction.

In games that count, the Americans are 6-3 in Popovich’s tenure. They’ve lost to the French twice, Sunday and in the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIBA World Cup, in nearly identical fashion. Again, they blew a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter by coughing up 3s and yakking all over themselves when they had the ball. Those are Team USA’s killer qualities in each of their six losses (in 16 games) under Popovich, counting exhibition games.

There was a laughable — if that’s the word — sequence, starting with about 40 seconds to go and the Americans down two. Kevin Durant missed an open 3, Bam Adebayo missed the putback. Zach LaVine missed a jumper. France turned the ball over, but Durant and Jrue Holiday missed 3s.





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