Team USA ended up getting past Argentina convincingly in the quarterfinal preliminary round with an explosive second half effort, but the storyline for the U.S. has been their potential vulnerability as opposed to their utter dominance in Rio.
In terms of the competition, the U.S. is particularly most concerned about playing against Spain, via Marc Stein of ESPN:
this is still the team that USA Basketball staffers privately fear the most
It’s not just Spain’s pedigree that has the Americans’ attention, either. A team routinely dismissed as too old, by yours truly as much as anyone, just beat Lithuania and Argentina by a combined 69 points after the stunning early slipups to Croatia and Brazil.
Spain went on to beat France by 25 points in the quarterfinal round and will meet Team USA in the semifinal.
There is legitimate reason for Team USA to be concerned about Spain. They’ve won the silver medal in the previous two Olympics, finishing second to the U.S. They have elite international offense paired with credible NBA talent, led by Pau Gasol, Ricky Rubio, Nikola Mirotic, Sergio Rodriguez, Rudy Fernandez, and Juan Carlos Navarro. Their patience and savvy gives them a reasonable chance against Team USA, who haven’t been able to establish a dominant defensive stride.
This should be the game that tests Team USA the most, so the alleged fear is warranted, and the game itself is now even more anticipated.
