The U.S. men’s basketball team arrives in France, with its opening game at the Paris Olympics on Sunday
VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — And now the real work begins for the United States. Olympic Men’s Basketball team.
The four-time reigning gold medallists arrived in France on Wednesday to begin their final preparations for the Paris GamesTheir train from London arrived early in the afternoon, a few hours before the team. held a photoshoot and acclimatization exercises in the arena where it will play its three group stage matches starting Sunday with a match against Serbia.
“We had a very interesting 45 minutes of play,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “No practice games, but a lot of running and shooting. And then we also prepared for the game against Serbia.”
The big news from the first day in France: Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant practiced. The three-time Olympic gold medalist, who has yet to play for the Americans this summer, participated fully in practice, Kerr said. That’s a good sign for Durant, who is dealing with the aftereffects of a calf strain he suffered a few days before the start of training camp on July 6.
“It’s always a collaboration,” Kerr said. “It’s not just our training staff. (USA Basketball CEO Grant Hill) is constantly in touch with Kevin’s people, with the Suns. It’s not going to be like we go out and say, ‘Hey, let’s just put him on the court.’ It’s going to be a big collaboration.”
The next step for Durant will be a practice game on Thursday, Kerr said, insisting the Americans have no concerns about Durant not being able to play in the Olympics.
The United States will open its Olympic schedule against Serbia, followed by games against South Sudan on July 31 and Puerto Rico on August 3. The tournament will then move from Lille to Paris for the knockout phase: the quarterfinals will be on August 6, the semifinals on August 8 and the medal matches on August 10.
And unlike the Tokyo Games three years ago, which were delayed by the pandemic, there will be a crowd. Tickets for Sunday’s opening game are now nearly impossible to get, even on secondary markets. It will be a far cry from the empty arenas the Americans played in when they came to Japan in 2021.
“I’ve been a student of the game for a long time, so I know how important the Olympics are and always have been,” said U.S. guard Devin Booker, a member of the 2021 gold medal-winning team. “I missed out on that in Japan, but I always knew what was at stake.”
U.S. center Bam Adebayo, also a member of the Tokyo team, said: “It’s obviously a lot different than Tokyo. It’s nice to feel like it’s back to normal, to have people in the stands. It’s my second time, but I feel like it’s my first real official Olympic appearance.”
The team is expected to train in Paris from Thursday, then… led by American Olympic flag bearer LeBron James, who will occupy this position alongside the tennis star Coco Gauff — will participate in the opening ceremony on the Seine on Friday.
The Americans went 5-0 in a series of pre-Olympic exhibitions, beating Canada in Las Vegas, Australia and Serbia in Abu Dhabi, and then South Sudan’s Olympic newcomer And Germany World Cup Champions in London. But the last two victories have been achieved by a combined margin of five points, not the sort of margin many would have expected given that the Americans were 43.5-point favourites over South Sudan and 15.5-point favourites over Germany.
“I think we can do a lot better,” Kerr said. “We’re getting to a point where we’re comfortable with our rotations and I think guys are starting to get comfortable with each other. But we can do a lot better.”
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