Although it looked vulnerable and/or complacent at times, Team USA men’s basketball took home yet another Olympic gold medal this summer. LeBron James, along with Stephen Curry and others, led the way with some excellent all-around play and was named the MVP of men’s basketball competition.
The United States certainly had a few hiccups, and it came dangerously close to losing a couple of times. Most notably, it nearly lost an exhibition game to South Sudan, a vastly inferior squad, before James’ game-winning layup saved the day and ensured a 101-100 win.
Then in the semifinal round versus Nikola Jokić and Serbia, Team USA trailed by double-digits in the fourth quarter, only to come back and claim a 95-91 victory.
Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal was asked on his podcast “The Big Podcast” about how Jayson Tatum was benched at one point in the Olympics. He then implied that he was disappointed by how the United States played overall by referencing that near-disaster versus South Sudan.
Shaq says he wasn’t paying attention to the Olympics.
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“I’m not even paying attention to the Olympics,” said O’Neal “… I have a dominant personality. I don’t care how you are, whatever, my cousin Kenny just had this argument upstairs. My cousin said, ‘The world is getting close’ but I don’t think it is. The fact that [USA Basketball won] 97-95, you only beat South Sudan by one [possession]. Come on, bro. That’s never supposed to happen.”
The big fella played for Team USA in the 1994 FIBA World Championship and in the 1996 Olympics, winning gold medals both times. Back then, the level of competition in international basketball was much lower than it is in the modern era.
While the United States continues to have a majority of the world’s best basketball players, it has gotten to the point where Team USA cannot get away with a lack of effort or complacency if it is to emerge victorious and win the gold.
One has to wonder if it was a bit complacent when it narrowly defeated South Sudan and Serbia.
